~*~
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Plushie Christmas Presents
All the photos from the Christmas present my sister and I made for the gang.
Happy New Year!
It's the end of another year. ^-^
A lot's happened, but it feels like it's gone by so fast.
I think I've improved in several areas. I've made a few more plushies, though not as many as last yer. O_O I just finished 2 of them as gifts, so I'll post pictures of them soon.
I think I've improved in drawing.
I've written a lot, but I wish I wrote more. How typical.
I'll try to get better at all of these next year. Especially writing and drawing (more on drawing on my next post).
But I have awesome friends and family as always. I love you guys! Thanks for everything! Can't wait to spend another awesome year with everyone!
A lot's happened, but it feels like it's gone by so fast.
I think I've improved in several areas. I've made a few more plushies, though not as many as last yer. O_O I just finished 2 of them as gifts, so I'll post pictures of them soon.
I think I've improved in drawing.
I've written a lot, but I wish I wrote more. How typical.
I'll try to get better at all of these next year. Especially writing and drawing (more on drawing on my next post).
But I have awesome friends and family as always. I love you guys! Thanks for everything! Can't wait to spend another awesome year with everyone!
Friday, December 23, 2011
Kenshin the Warrior
I actually had this planned for a while (since before I decided he was my favorite character), but I finally made it.
I have another one of these planned once I can gather the pictures. I have to get them myself because there aren't as many online as there were for this one.
Hopefully you can see the full version. If it doesn't open, try doing the "full image" thing. Actually, it would probably be easiest to look at it on DA.
(There's one picture I put on twice, though it has different color schemes. I forgot to delete it even though I noticed it beforehand...)
I have another one of these planned once I can gather the pictures. I have to get them myself because there aren't as many online as there were for this one.
Hopefully you can see the full version. If it doesn't open, try doing the "full image" thing. Actually, it would probably be easiest to look at it on DA.
(There's one picture I put on twice, though it has different color schemes. I forgot to delete it even though I noticed it beforehand...)
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Mekki
Another one I got back a while ago.
This is a dragon from Katani's story. His name is Mekki, and he's Melly's partner. He's sort of a big baby, actually, but I thought he'd make a cute picture. And I was right! He's soooo adorable!!! This one might actually be my favorite now. But it's right at the top with the very first picture I got of Heyoa.
It's by Shivita.
And it seems like I didn't post the picture of Melly and Mekki on my blog. I thought I did, but I guess I only put it on DA.
So here's my picture of Melly and Mekki.
I realized after I finished that I forgot to make Melly's skin darker. --_-- Aren't I smart?
This is a dragon from Katani's story. His name is Mekki, and he's Melly's partner. He's sort of a big baby, actually, but I thought he'd make a cute picture. And I was right! He's soooo adorable!!! This one might actually be my favorite now. But it's right at the top with the very first picture I got of Heyoa.
It's by Shivita.
And it seems like I didn't post the picture of Melly and Mekki on my blog. I thought I did, but I guess I only put it on DA.
So here's my picture of Melly and Mekki.
I realized after I finished that I forgot to make Melly's skin darker. --_-- Aren't I smart?
Polaris
I've had these for a couple weeks, but I kept not posting them.
Here's Polaris! By Ninja-jamal. He's the one that made this freaking amazing poster of every Pokémon before generation 5. Actually, Polaris's eyes are supposed to be blue. But she looks really nice besides that! Soo cute!
Here's Polaris! By Ninja-jamal. He's the one that made this freaking amazing poster of every Pokémon before generation 5. Actually, Polaris's eyes are supposed to be blue. But she looks really nice besides that! Soo cute!
Skyward Sword
So, I had a party with my friends today which was fun as always.
And right afterward, I sat down and played the ending of Skyward Sword. I'd been at the point before the final battle for about a week, but I'd been so busy that I didn't want to risk starting it only to have to stop (I did that once as it is).
So, I finally finished! YAAAAAY!!
The final boss was shorter than I thought it would be. But the game itself was pretty long. I thought it was a good game. The flying and birds and stuff was especially awesome. But Twilight Princess remains my favorite game (and Midna remains my favorite Zelda character).
Except my file had to be deleted in order to do the replay of the game. --_-- Sigh. I wonder if there was a way to duplicate my file so I didn't have to delete it... too late now though.
I still think the Loftwings should have had names.
I liked Fi's songs and dances too.
Damn, the first silent realm was really stressful, but they got a little better each time as I started to understand them. --_--
Ghirahim was an interesting bad guy.
(I wonder if I should go back to my Shadow Link fanfic and add some Skyward stuff into it...)
(Minor spoilers)
I thought it was cool how Groose actually ended up being useful. For the part when he came down to the land, I stopped hating him, but I still kept thinking, "Okay, even though I don't hate you anymore, please stay away from me because you still kinda freak me out a bit with that face."
And if Ghirahim is a sword too, why does he actually have emotion? Fi doesn't really.
It's kinda annoying how they made that Demise guy the precursor to Ganondorf though...
But overall, I'd recommend it. I thought it was a good game. I was able to figure out almost everything without a guide (except I had to look up one thing about fighting Ghirahim for the final time, and I needed to look up some stuff about 2 of the Goddess Cubes). Since I've played almost every single other Zelda game, I've gotten pretty quick about figuring out the puzzles.
And right afterward, I sat down and played the ending of Skyward Sword. I'd been at the point before the final battle for about a week, but I'd been so busy that I didn't want to risk starting it only to have to stop (I did that once as it is).
So, I finally finished! YAAAAAY!!
The final boss was shorter than I thought it would be. But the game itself was pretty long. I thought it was a good game. The flying and birds and stuff was especially awesome. But Twilight Princess remains my favorite game (and Midna remains my favorite Zelda character).
Except my file had to be deleted in order to do the replay of the game. --_-- Sigh. I wonder if there was a way to duplicate my file so I didn't have to delete it... too late now though.
I still think the Loftwings should have had names.
I liked Fi's songs and dances too.
Damn, the first silent realm was really stressful, but they got a little better each time as I started to understand them. --_--
Ghirahim was an interesting bad guy.
(I wonder if I should go back to my Shadow Link fanfic and add some Skyward stuff into it...)
(Minor spoilers)
I thought it was cool how Groose actually ended up being useful. For the part when he came down to the land, I stopped hating him, but I still kept thinking, "Okay, even though I don't hate you anymore, please stay away from me because you still kinda freak me out a bit with that face."
And if Ghirahim is a sword too, why does he actually have emotion? Fi doesn't really.
It's kinda annoying how they made that Demise guy the precursor to Ganondorf though...
But overall, I'd recommend it. I thought it was a good game. I was able to figure out almost everything without a guide (except I had to look up one thing about fighting Ghirahim for the final time, and I needed to look up some stuff about 2 of the Goddess Cubes). Since I've played almost every single other Zelda game, I've gotten pretty quick about figuring out the puzzles.
EBO ALERT!
Okay, everyone! Right now I need all of you to go to fanfiction, click on the "help" link in the top right, and send an email to the address listed under "new categories/characters." In the email, ask them to add the Evil Baby Orphanage (or the EBO) to the miscellaneous category.
I'm going to try to rally support from other Nerdfighters too, but please help on this guys! I think it would be great to get this category up before the tour de Nerdfighteria!
I'm going to try to rally support from other Nerdfighters too, but please help on this guys! I think it would be great to get this category up before the tour de Nerdfighteria!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Kenshin
So, on my last Friday of school (I guess it must have been December 2nd) I was driving home with Dad, and we stopped at a Japanese store. They had those boxes that have a toy in them, except you're not sure which of the toys you'll get when you buy it. Those always bug me a lot because I tend to have abysmal luck with them.
This had a set of Kenshin figures. And since those are older and harder to come by, I decided to get one. I decided not to be picky and decided that I'd be happy as long as I didn't get one of the figures (I didn't really want Saito). Because I'm impatient, I opened it right there in the store and gave a sort of hushed victory cry when I found that for once I got the figure I wanted from one of these mystery boxes: Kenshin.
As usually happens, I started putting my toy together in the car on the way home.
This may seem like a random change in subject, but it links in. When I was playing Crisis Core, Crystal was telling me how Zack was probably her favorite character. Now, as you can tell from my list, I have a lot of characters that I like (you know, if they're animal-ish, funny, or if they need a hug). But I'd ever given any thought to which character was m favorite of my favorites.
So, as I was putting together the Kenshin model, I realized that Kenshin was probably my favorite character. And when I referred to my list, I realized that he was higher than all the others. Of course, when I told Crystal and Ellen this, the first thing they asked was "why."
Well, partly because he's really funny, especially the "oro" which still makes me laugh every time I see it. How can it not?!?!
He may be funny, but he's also a freaking awesome swordsman!
And as Crystal pointed out, in addition to fitting into the category of people that make me laugh, he could also fit into the category of people that need hugs. He does sometimes.
So, I finally discovered my favorite character (though FMA remains my favorite anime/manga).
Go Kenshin!
This had a set of Kenshin figures. And since those are older and harder to come by, I decided to get one. I decided not to be picky and decided that I'd be happy as long as I didn't get one of the figures (I didn't really want Saito). Because I'm impatient, I opened it right there in the store and gave a sort of hushed victory cry when I found that for once I got the figure I wanted from one of these mystery boxes: Kenshin.
As usually happens, I started putting my toy together in the car on the way home.
This may seem like a random change in subject, but it links in. When I was playing Crisis Core, Crystal was telling me how Zack was probably her favorite character. Now, as you can tell from my list, I have a lot of characters that I like (you know, if they're animal-ish, funny, or if they need a hug). But I'd ever given any thought to which character was m favorite of my favorites.
So, as I was putting together the Kenshin model, I realized that Kenshin was probably my favorite character. And when I referred to my list, I realized that he was higher than all the others. Of course, when I told Crystal and Ellen this, the first thing they asked was "why."
Well, partly because he's really funny, especially the "oro" which still makes me laugh every time I see it. How can it not?!?!
He may be funny, but he's also a freaking awesome swordsman!
And as Crystal pointed out, in addition to fitting into the category of people that make me laugh, he could also fit into the category of people that need hugs. He does sometimes.
So, I finally discovered my favorite character (though FMA remains my favorite anime/manga).
Go Kenshin!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Yotsuba
Still lots of posts I want to make, so I should probably do one.
A while ago, Crystal got me to read a manga about Yotsuba. It basically follows this silly little girl named Yotsuba. She manages to turn lots of ordinary evvents into very interesting experiences. It took me a while to get into it, but it's pretty funny and fun.
I feel like I should be writing more, but I want to go and try to work on my picture of Katani. And maybe write some. Ugh. I gotta get up early tomorrow though so I can't stay up much longer.
Anyway Yotsuba with a bunch of cats.
A while ago, Crystal got me to read a manga about Yotsuba. It basically follows this silly little girl named Yotsuba. She manages to turn lots of ordinary evvents into very interesting experiences. It took me a while to get into it, but it's pretty funny and fun.
I feel like I should be writing more, but I want to go and try to work on my picture of Katani. And maybe write some. Ugh. I gotta get up early tomorrow though so I can't stay up much longer.
Anyway Yotsuba with a bunch of cats.
Friday, December 16, 2011
FREEEEEEEE!!
My last final was yesterday, so I'm finally free! ^-^
There's a lot of blog posts I gotta make too, which I will do later because I'm behind on my fanfic again. Maybe I can catch up with it during break. Plus work on about 3 other stories... Yeah. There's still a lot of stuff I want to do over break. I don't think I'll finish all of it. But I'd really like to try to finish Katani's story, because I think I'm getting close to the climax!
And I need to get past the first 2 paragraphs of my EBO story also so I can try to get the EBO group on fanfic.
And I still haven't finished typing Briena's poor broken sequel story. --_-- It's too long. Typing it is a paiiin. I don't think I'll ever hand-write something this long again, if I'm only going to type it after. Blehhhh.
I should probably start editing the Arith and Saleera story with Ellen too...
Plus I haven't made my Yukata yet. And there's a couple doll I want to make along with a few other little crafty things I need to finish.
And there's all the anime and manga Ellen, Nicole, and Crystal assigned. The list seems endless... but I'm slowly working away at it!
And there's normal books I'm reading too.
And I gotta finish some of the games I'm playing.
Which reminds me, I gotta post about one of them.
Yep. This turned into a to-do list of my break. Heheh. I will never be bored. Especially since I don't seem to have any empty days before Christmas.
There's a lot of blog posts I gotta make too, which I will do later because I'm behind on my fanfic again. Maybe I can catch up with it during break. Plus work on about 3 other stories... Yeah. There's still a lot of stuff I want to do over break. I don't think I'll finish all of it. But I'd really like to try to finish Katani's story, because I think I'm getting close to the climax!
And I need to get past the first 2 paragraphs of my EBO story also so I can try to get the EBO group on fanfic.
And I still haven't finished typing Briena's poor broken sequel story. --_-- It's too long. Typing it is a paiiin. I don't think I'll ever hand-write something this long again, if I'm only going to type it after. Blehhhh.
I should probably start editing the Arith and Saleera story with Ellen too...
Plus I haven't made my Yukata yet. And there's a couple doll I want to make along with a few other little crafty things I need to finish.
And there's all the anime and manga Ellen, Nicole, and Crystal assigned. The list seems endless... but I'm slowly working away at it!
And there's normal books I'm reading too.
And I gotta finish some of the games I'm playing.
Which reminds me, I gotta post about one of them.
Yep. This turned into a to-do list of my break. Heheh. I will never be bored. Especially since I don't seem to have any empty days before Christmas.
Friday, December 9, 2011
EBO
We just got the places that John Green's going to visit on is tour for The Fault in Our Stars. And one of them is near my house!!!
I'm trying to talk Ellen and Nicole into going, but their classes have started by then so they're not sure they can make it. I hope they can come! Nicole's the one that turned us into Nerdfighters, after all.
So, I'm planning to make some little gift items to give to John and Hank, since they seem to get a lot of cool stuff when they meet Nerdfighters.
Which brings me to another point. This is a post I've been putting off for a while. And I'll post about it in more depth tomorrow, probably.
The Evil Baby Orphanage (EBO). It's an idea created by a Nerdfighter. What if you could go back in time to when someone like Hitler was a baby? You could kidnap that baby and raise him in an orphanage so he wouldn't grow up to do all that horrible stuff.
The moment I heard that over a year ago, I developed a vague idea for an EBO story of my own, set on Magic-Earth with my own characters.
Recently I started developing the story a lot more. I know how it starts, though my idea for the middle is rather fuzzy.
I'm planning to put it onto fanfiction when I get started on it. Problem is there isn't a section for the EBO on fanfiction. I'm sure there's tons of nerdfighters who'd like to put their EBO stories on fanfic, so once I get my first chapter done, I'm gonna go to one of the Nerdfighter discussion forums and try to get people to spam fanfic to make an EBO section. When I finish my first chapter, I'm gonna ask for you guys to help with that too! I know Ellen has a fanfic account. And I know Nicole and Crystal read fanfictions, but I don't know if they have actual accounts. So, Ellen, I'm counting on you! (But not yet. I'm not ready yet).
I'm trying to talk Ellen and Nicole into going, but their classes have started by then so they're not sure they can make it. I hope they can come! Nicole's the one that turned us into Nerdfighters, after all.
So, I'm planning to make some little gift items to give to John and Hank, since they seem to get a lot of cool stuff when they meet Nerdfighters.
Which brings me to another point. This is a post I've been putting off for a while. And I'll post about it in more depth tomorrow, probably.
The Evil Baby Orphanage (EBO). It's an idea created by a Nerdfighter. What if you could go back in time to when someone like Hitler was a baby? You could kidnap that baby and raise him in an orphanage so he wouldn't grow up to do all that horrible stuff.
The moment I heard that over a year ago, I developed a vague idea for an EBO story of my own, set on Magic-Earth with my own characters.
Recently I started developing the story a lot more. I know how it starts, though my idea for the middle is rather fuzzy.
I'm planning to put it onto fanfiction when I get started on it. Problem is there isn't a section for the EBO on fanfiction. I'm sure there's tons of nerdfighters who'd like to put their EBO stories on fanfic, so once I get my first chapter done, I'm gonna go to one of the Nerdfighter discussion forums and try to get people to spam fanfic to make an EBO section. When I finish my first chapter, I'm gonna ask for you guys to help with that too! I know Ellen has a fanfic account. And I know Nicole and Crystal read fanfictions, but I don't know if they have actual accounts. So, Ellen, I'm counting on you! (But not yet. I'm not ready yet).
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Analyzing People
So last night, Ellen, Nicole, Crystal and I spent a lot of time talking about people, and analyzing people and what people are like and what makes people like each other. It is interesting to talk about that stuff (especially for designing characters). Unfortunately I was working on a homework project at the same time and the water and electricity bills I had to interpret were kind of killing my brain cells so I wasn't able to hold a very intelligent conversation... And I was kinda doing this half-crazed laughing the whole time.
We should probably do it again when my brain is actually functioning. Heheh.
...
This is a random post. I could continue on but I'm tired and I'm gonna go to bed. Heheh.
We should probably do it again when my brain is actually functioning. Heheh.
...
This is a random post. I could continue on but I'm tired and I'm gonna go to bed. Heheh.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Reducing Footprint
So, for my climate change class, one of our projects was to reduce our ecological footprint (our impact on the environment) by trying to live differently for five days.
I already do a lot to try to reduce my footprint, like taking the train or carpooling, and taking care of a compost bin. Short of moving to a solar-powered apartment, I wasn't sure what I could do.
So I decided to make a bunch of smaller changes, or to do more of them.
I didn't buy any meat for the 5 days. I bullied Mom into turning the lights and computer off downstairs and to save some of the water she wastes while she's trying to heat it to wash her face. I went to the Farmer's Market to pick out a bunch of food. I only drove a couple very close places during the 5 days, and I took the train and carpooled to school. I did some other small things too.
But you guys should try that some time. See what you can do to reduce your footprint, even if it's only for a few days.
Find out what your ecological footprint is here.
And here's that list of changes you can make to reduce your footprint. This thing took me forever to write, so I'm gonna continue to link to is.
If everyone on the planet lived like I do, we'd need almost 4 earths to sustain us. And my footprint is a helluvalot lower than most Americans. A lot of my footprint is probably because I live i a house, not an apartment.
One of the reasons we'd need so many earths is because there's too many people...
I already do a lot to try to reduce my footprint, like taking the train or carpooling, and taking care of a compost bin. Short of moving to a solar-powered apartment, I wasn't sure what I could do.
So I decided to make a bunch of smaller changes, or to do more of them.
I didn't buy any meat for the 5 days. I bullied Mom into turning the lights and computer off downstairs and to save some of the water she wastes while she's trying to heat it to wash her face. I went to the Farmer's Market to pick out a bunch of food. I only drove a couple very close places during the 5 days, and I took the train and carpooled to school. I did some other small things too.
But you guys should try that some time. See what you can do to reduce your footprint, even if it's only for a few days.
Find out what your ecological footprint is here.
And here's that list of changes you can make to reduce your footprint. This thing took me forever to write, so I'm gonna continue to link to is.
If everyone on the planet lived like I do, we'd need almost 4 earths to sustain us. And my footprint is a helluvalot lower than most Americans. A lot of my footprint is probably because I live i a house, not an apartment.
One of the reasons we'd need so many earths is because there's too many people...
Yes, that's Betsy
No, that's not actually Betsy. That's Nick. I realized very belatedly that I never asked him to join my blog. So I finally did.
Now for an explanation.
Maybe a year ago, Brian brought over his Boom Blox game to my party and everyone had a character. Nick's character was Betsy, a cow (all the characters are block shaped). I found that amusing, so I kept going, "Betsy, it's your turn."
As a result, Angeles and her friend are convinced that Nick's name is Betsy.
On top of that, since Nick didn't have a Mii character on my Wii, he used my Ben Mii. So now Brian thinks his name is Ben.
And Ellen and Nicole have always known Nick as Squirrel Guy...
So, yeah. No one knows Nick by his name.
Which is probably kinda my fault come to think of it.
Now for an explanation.
Maybe a year ago, Brian brought over his Boom Blox game to my party and everyone had a character. Nick's character was Betsy, a cow (all the characters are block shaped). I found that amusing, so I kept going, "Betsy, it's your turn."
As a result, Angeles and her friend are convinced that Nick's name is Betsy.
On top of that, since Nick didn't have a Mii character on my Wii, he used my Ben Mii. So now Brian thinks his name is Ben.
And Ellen and Nicole have always known Nick as Squirrel Guy...
So, yeah. No one knows Nick by his name.
Which is probably kinda my fault come to think of it.
Introducing Betsy the Block Cow, aka Nick
This is my first blog post ever, on any blog! I don't know what will happen when I press "Publish Post", although I have a good idea...Hi Ellen and Nicole and others whose names escape me!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Fang and Paintbrush Practice
So, finally figured out how to download new paintbrushes to photoshop. I found some fur/feather/scale paintbrushes on DA from Tatchit and Sullivan.
I also did a bunch of sketches of Fang since I didn't really like my first picture of him. So I decided to play with some of the fur brushes. Actually, I really only ended up using one of them. And it worked best the first time I used it...
Anyway, these are a little better than that first one. The top corner was kinda supposed to be a chibi Fang, but it looks more like a plain puppy.
Here's Fang's torque bracelet thing again.
I've started working on a picture of Katani, Arith, and Ben. They're three of my main guy characters, and I don't draw then enough. None of them are in the same stories together, though theoretically Katani and Arith could meet since they live in the same time. They'd just have to fly across a couple continents to meet.
I finished coloring Arith today and he looks unexpectedly adorable, which isn't something I usually think about either my drawings or my characters. I've started working on Ben.
I also did a bunch of sketches of Fang since I didn't really like my first picture of him. So I decided to play with some of the fur brushes. Actually, I really only ended up using one of them. And it worked best the first time I used it...
Anyway, these are a little better than that first one. The top corner was kinda supposed to be a chibi Fang, but it looks more like a plain puppy.
Here's Fang's torque bracelet thing again.
I've started working on a picture of Katani, Arith, and Ben. They're three of my main guy characters, and I don't draw then enough. None of them are in the same stories together, though theoretically Katani and Arith could meet since they live in the same time. They'd just have to fly across a couple continents to meet.
I finished coloring Arith today and he looks unexpectedly adorable, which isn't something I usually think about either my drawings or my characters. I've started working on Ben.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Avatar Opening~~!!!~~
Hey hey! I just found the opening to the new Avatar series! Woot! Can't Wait!~
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Photos
Nick emailed asking for me to look at his flikr photos. I wanted to comment on a bunch of them, but I don't have an account. So I'll tell all of you to look at his photos too. He gets to go all these awesome places. TT^TT I'm so jealous.
He has some really cool wildlife shots too. I was with him when he took the zoo photos.
Come visit!
He has some really cool wildlife shots too. I was with him when he took the zoo photos.
Come visit!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
The Story of Ulysses
I finished my comic! Actually, this isn't the end. I still need to do the interaction between Ulysses ad Mia, the Cubone. But I probably won't make that as a comic. I'll probably write that out, maybe with an illustration. But Mia will be fun to write.
I kinda ended up tying this into my Pokemon fanfic in my head. Like Ulysses is cloned from Cara's Braviary. Hence her showing up as an image when Ulysses is passed out. It's a memory overlap from Cara's Braviary. So after Mia decides to tag along with Ulysses, Ulysses decides to try to figure out where this memory came from. In the meanwhile, Cara knows that Team Rocket managed to clone her Braviary, and she wants to find the clone. But I really don't know what happens after Ulysses and Mia partner up (Ulysses doesn't want Mia around).
I hope you can understand what's going on!
I kinda ended up tying this into my Pokemon fanfic in my head. Like Ulysses is cloned from Cara's Braviary. Hence her showing up as an image when Ulysses is passed out. It's a memory overlap from Cara's Braviary. So after Mia decides to tag along with Ulysses, Ulysses decides to try to figure out where this memory came from. In the meanwhile, Cara knows that Team Rocket managed to clone her Braviary, and she wants to find the clone. But I really don't know what happens after Ulysses and Mia partner up (Ulysses doesn't want Mia around).
I hope you can understand what's going on!
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Dragons Pen!!
I finally did it! I finally redid the Dragons Pen picture! That thing at the top of the blog has been bugging me forever! I put it off because I figured I'd improve some more before I tried to redo it. But I finally did!
She took a long time. Especially because of the scales. She's almost all colored pencil, except for the sky. I probably would have screwed up the picture if I tried to do the sky with colored pencil. Since the sky kinda blurred out her scales, I had to place some clouds so you could actually see her. The clouds might look kinda forced... but I tried to make them look good.
Anyway, I shall go and change the picture right now!
She took a long time. Especially because of the scales. She's almost all colored pencil, except for the sky. I probably would have screwed up the picture if I tried to do the sky with colored pencil. Since the sky kinda blurred out her scales, I had to place some clouds so you could actually see her. The clouds might look kinda forced... but I tried to make them look good.
Anyway, I shall go and change the picture right now!
Friday, November 25, 2011
Speed and Distance
So, for a long time I'd been wanting to figure out the speeds my different dragon species. I knew which ones were faster and which were slower, but I wanted something a little more accurate than that.
So, finally a while ago I made Dad help me, since he used to work with birds of prey. I got tentative speeds for how fast each dragon species can fly at an easy cruise, a flying sprint, and a dive. I also tried to figure out how far each species could fly in one go.
I'm not gonna post them all here. But basically, the Moon Dragon is the fastest dragon. Frilled dragons are the best distance fliers. Sun dragons are pretty good at both. Titan and Lash dragons are the slowest.
So, finally a while ago I made Dad help me, since he used to work with birds of prey. I got tentative speeds for how fast each dragon species can fly at an easy cruise, a flying sprint, and a dive. I also tried to figure out how far each species could fly in one go.
I'm not gonna post them all here. But basically, the Moon Dragon is the fastest dragon. Frilled dragons are the best distance fliers. Sun dragons are pretty good at both. Titan and Lash dragons are the slowest.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Ulysses
So, there is a sort of contest thing on DA for VengefulSpirits. Rules found here. It's a comic tryout thing. I thought it would be good practice for me even if I don't pass. Because I've never done a real comic before. Just those goofy practice things. And since it's a pokemon comic, it shouldn't be too hard because Pokemon are easy for me to draw.
So the plot is as follows:
Team Rocket is creating clones (known as 2nd Generation Clones) that have no emotions or anything and are like completely obedient machines. But there are also reject clones, which were experiments leading up to the perfect clones. These rejects often have problems with them, but have their emotions back and have escaped from Team Rocket. And Team Rocket's trying to hunt them down.
I'm using a Braviary named Ulysses. I asked Dad to give me names of a bunch of generals, and Ulysses seemed like a good name for him. Ulysses was almost to perfect clone level, but he's a reject because he escaped Team Rocket's influence. HEre's his reference page.
I've drawn out most of his comic and colored in part of it. I'll post the whole thing here when I finish. It's a lot longer than I thought it would be, but I want to finish this scene. Even if I don't pass, I might do the next scene also. Because I want to do something with the cute little Cubone that follows him around.
Here's his reference sheet, along with some of the info about him.
So the plot is as follows:
Team Rocket is creating clones (known as 2nd Generation Clones) that have no emotions or anything and are like completely obedient machines. But there are also reject clones, which were experiments leading up to the perfect clones. These rejects often have problems with them, but have their emotions back and have escaped from Team Rocket. And Team Rocket's trying to hunt them down.
I'm using a Braviary named Ulysses. I asked Dad to give me names of a bunch of generals, and Ulysses seemed like a good name for him. Ulysses was almost to perfect clone level, but he's a reject because he escaped Team Rocket's influence. HEre's his reference page.
I've drawn out most of his comic and colored in part of it. I'll post the whole thing here when I finish. It's a lot longer than I thought it would be, but I want to finish this scene. Even if I don't pass, I might do the next scene also. Because I want to do something with the cute little Cubone that follows him around.
Here's his reference sheet, along with some of the info about him.
Skyward Sword
Yaay! I picked up the new Zelda game today! I probably won't get a lot of time to spend on it until wednesday, but I did play some of it today. It's pretty cool so far. I love the birds, of course. ^-^ Except none of them seem to have names. The beginning made me laugh so hard with the delivery bird.
Can't wait to spend more time on it.
I watched the first episode of the animated Zelda series last night. It was bad. Really really REALLY bad. So, yeah. Don't watch it.
I've played almost every single Zelda game now. I'm most of the way done with Link's Awakening. The only one I haven't played at all is Oracle of Seasons. I wonder if they'll release it on the 3DS store like they did with Link's Awakening. I played through the original Legend of Zelda. It's hard. And then when you beat the game, you can replay it differently, and I haven't finished the second run yet. I actually haven't played that in a long time. And I beat the first dungeon in Legend of Link, but that game's FREAKING HARD. A real pain.
Oh yeah. I'm playing through OOT Master Quest on the 3DS. I've only beat the first dungeon so far because I've been working on other games too. The dungeons are quite a bit trickier, and I've died a lot. But so far I've been able to figure them out without going online. We'll see if that continues when I get to the Water Temple and stuff.
And I wanna play Wind Waker again too. And Minish Cap. And maybe Majora's Mask.
Can't wait to spend more time on it.
I watched the first episode of the animated Zelda series last night. It was bad. Really really REALLY bad. So, yeah. Don't watch it.
I've played almost every single Zelda game now. I'm most of the way done with Link's Awakening. The only one I haven't played at all is Oracle of Seasons. I wonder if they'll release it on the 3DS store like they did with Link's Awakening. I played through the original Legend of Zelda. It's hard. And then when you beat the game, you can replay it differently, and I haven't finished the second run yet. I actually haven't played that in a long time. And I beat the first dungeon in Legend of Link, but that game's FREAKING HARD. A real pain.
Oh yeah. I'm playing through OOT Master Quest on the 3DS. I've only beat the first dungeon so far because I've been working on other games too. The dungeons are quite a bit trickier, and I've died a lot. But so far I've been able to figure them out without going online. We'll see if that continues when I get to the Water Temple and stuff.
And I wanna play Wind Waker again too. And Minish Cap. And maybe Majora's Mask.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Kon and Thorn
I actually finished this ages ago. So, this is Kon and Thorn, from Katani's story. I like these two stories. I need to find a way to get them more into the story. Especially Thorn, because so far I don't have a lot of ideas for her.
These started out as two concept sketches, and when I finally colored them, I decided just to stick them on a background together. I tried coloring Kon with colored pencil first, but I couldn't get his skin right, and he looks really ill... so I finally recolored him and colored Thorn (I didn't even try to use pencil to color her). But yeah. Kon looks to happy, and Thorn is just staring off into the distance. But you can get an idea of what they look like. I'm not quite sure Kon's head is right though...
So, yeah. Kon's the leader of the gang, and Thorn's his second in command.
I like how Thorn's shirt came out.
These started out as two concept sketches, and when I finally colored them, I decided just to stick them on a background together. I tried coloring Kon with colored pencil first, but I couldn't get his skin right, and he looks really ill... so I finally recolored him and colored Thorn (I didn't even try to use pencil to color her). But yeah. Kon looks to happy, and Thorn is just staring off into the distance. But you can get an idea of what they look like. I'm not quite sure Kon's head is right though...
So, yeah. Kon's the leader of the gang, and Thorn's his second in command.
I like how Thorn's shirt came out.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Heyoa
So, I've been putting off drawing my dragon for ages, and the others I did a while ago were lame. So I FINALLY redid her.
Yep. Still obsessed with commissions. I like seeing my characters done by good artists, and I like supporting good artists. ^-^
I asked her to draw this about 2 days ago. @_@ That's gotta be a record.
She's so cute, chasing a bluejay. ^-^ Once again, torturing the artists with scales. Heheh.
Yep. Still obsessed with commissions. I like seeing my characters done by good artists, and I like supporting good artists. ^-^
I asked her to draw this about 2 days ago. @_@ That's gotta be a record.
She's so cute, chasing a bluejay. ^-^ Once again, torturing the artists with scales. Heheh.
Tablet and Shalia
Big news! Leaf is losing her baby teeth!
No, that's not the big news. Heheh. Although it's kinda funny. Her front canines are growing in next to her baby canines, and for a while there were double fangs there. Now she only has one set of double fangs, cause I guess the one baby fang fell out?
Anyhooow, I digress.
So, I did end up getting my tablet today. ^-^
This is the very first thing I drew. An attempt at Fern doing a happy dance. I probably could have made it neater by spending more time on it. Heheh.
Yeah, it's rather bad. I'm still getting used to the tablet. I'm not very good at drawing yet, but coloring's not too bad. Actually at the moment, it's slightly easier to color with a mouse. But only by a little. And I'm sure with a little practice, the tablet will be much easier than the mouse. I'm working on some little pictures of Fang.
I ordered another commission. Heheh. From Whiteweasel. She was having some financial trouble, and she had some nice art, so I got a commission from her. I gave her a choice of my characters to draw, and she chose Shalia.
She was working on this picture throughout a few livestreams, so I got to see it being worked on, and I chatted with her a lot. I'm amazed at how much time she spent on it. She probably put a lot more time and effort into this dragon that most of the artists who do commissions. She spent soooo long on the scales. I'm amazed she made them so small. Another amazing thing: she did it all with a mouse. She doesn't have a tablet. @_@
Shalia has a really cute expression. ^-^
No, that's not the big news. Heheh. Although it's kinda funny. Her front canines are growing in next to her baby canines, and for a while there were double fangs there. Now she only has one set of double fangs, cause I guess the one baby fang fell out?
Anyhooow, I digress.
So, I did end up getting my tablet today. ^-^
This is the very first thing I drew. An attempt at Fern doing a happy dance. I probably could have made it neater by spending more time on it. Heheh.
Yeah, it's rather bad. I'm still getting used to the tablet. I'm not very good at drawing yet, but coloring's not too bad. Actually at the moment, it's slightly easier to color with a mouse. But only by a little. And I'm sure with a little practice, the tablet will be much easier than the mouse. I'm working on some little pictures of Fang.
I ordered another commission. Heheh. From Whiteweasel. She was having some financial trouble, and she had some nice art, so I got a commission from her. I gave her a choice of my characters to draw, and she chose Shalia.
She was working on this picture throughout a few livestreams, so I got to see it being worked on, and I chatted with her a lot. I'm amazed at how much time she spent on it. She probably put a lot more time and effort into this dragon that most of the artists who do commissions. She spent soooo long on the scales. I'm amazed she made them so small. Another amazing thing: she did it all with a mouse. She doesn't have a tablet. @_@
Shalia has a really cute expression. ^-^
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tablet
Since I have to study for a test, I'll probably just cut and paste the journal entry I put on DA. Heheh.
I have some pictures I need to put on the blog also. Maybe I'll get some up tomorrow.
I'm still in my endless debate about whether or not to get a tablet.
It's only recently that I've actually wanted one. Mom pretty much gave me her nice new laptop since she never used it, so now I don't need to use the old one. And since I do a lot of my drawing while watching movies on the TV downstairs, using a tablet on my desk computer never felt really appealing. But when I realized that Mom's ex-laptop has photoshop, I started thinking about it.
But still, it wasn't until 2 weeks ago that I seriously considered it, because two weeks ago I suddenly got money.
But I can't help wondering... will a tablet make me draw by hand a lot less? Will I stop trying to improve with colored pencils? I know I won't stop drawing by hand altogether, but I'll probably color by hand a lot less.
But getting a tablet would be really interesting, and it would make some things a lot easier. For example, it's really hard to erase colored pencil, but on a computer you can easily fix a mistake.
I'm still torn. Sigh.
But since I don't have class Friday, I'm leaning heavily on stopping at the mall tomorrow after class, since the mall's right across the street from the train station. And then I can play with it over my long-ish weekend.
I guess we'll find out tomorrow what my decision was...
I'm watching a livestream of one of my commissions right now. ^-^ I've never got to watch one of them before. So, I'm not really studying for my test tomorrow... bad me!
I have some pictures I need to put on the blog also. Maybe I'll get some up tomorrow.
I'm still in my endless debate about whether or not to get a tablet.
It's only recently that I've actually wanted one. Mom pretty much gave me her nice new laptop since she never used it, so now I don't need to use the old one. And since I do a lot of my drawing while watching movies on the TV downstairs, using a tablet on my desk computer never felt really appealing. But when I realized that Mom's ex-laptop has photoshop, I started thinking about it.
But still, it wasn't until 2 weeks ago that I seriously considered it, because two weeks ago I suddenly got money.
But I can't help wondering... will a tablet make me draw by hand a lot less? Will I stop trying to improve with colored pencils? I know I won't stop drawing by hand altogether, but I'll probably color by hand a lot less.
But getting a tablet would be really interesting, and it would make some things a lot easier. For example, it's really hard to erase colored pencil, but on a computer you can easily fix a mistake.
I'm still torn. Sigh.
But since I don't have class Friday, I'm leaning heavily on stopping at the mall tomorrow after class, since the mall's right across the street from the train station. And then I can play with it over my long-ish weekend.
I guess we'll find out tomorrow what my decision was...
I'm watching a livestream of one of my commissions right now. ^-^ I've never got to watch one of them before. So, I'm not really studying for my test tomorrow... bad me!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Final Fantasy Crisis Core
So as of a few minutes ago, I finished playing Final Fantasy Crisis Core.
NO WAAAY! THAT WAS SO FREAKING SAAAD!
WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! How could they do that???!!!
It's like the ending of Okamiden, except more people died in this game...
TT^TT
TT^TT
TT^TT
WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!
Sniffle.
Trying to get over my sorrow so I can write about the game. I don't know if it's working. It was only a couple minutes ago that I finished...
Sob.
Yeah, I liked Zack. Crystal says he's her favorite character of all time. She's the one that lent the game to me, and the PSP. I'd never played a Final Fantasy game before. The people who played the other game probably wouldn't be as startled by the ending as I was. Actually, Ellen and Nicole and Crystal mentioned what happened. Those jerks. So I knew it would happen eventually, but I thought it would happen in a different game. Not this one. So not surprised as I would have been if people hadn't given me SPOILERS. Stop talking about this stuff in front of me when you know I haven't finished the game! Like when Ellen told me who Shiek was, and my cousin said that that one district in The Hunger Games gets blown up.
I was also confused by a lot of the game. Crystal helped me understand some of it.
Like what were they doing to Zack and Cloud after the Sephiroth incident? And why did they want to kill them when they escaped?
Why was Angeal acting all evil when he really wasn't?
What happened to Genesis?
I still don't really get why Sephiroth went all wacko. Yeah, he may have learned something weird, but wasn't he kinda... overreacting? Like trying to kill Zack and people who had nothing to do with the incident? I guess he's a bad guy in the other games.
What was with Genesis? Did he turn good at the end or something? And why'd those people take him away? hat happens to him?
Why'd they turn the director into a clone?
I'm not really used to this sort of game play. I did play the first Kingdom Hearts game, which was similar to this. But I play Pokémon, Zelda, and Okami. That's really different from these games. It took me until before the last boss to even try to play with all the items and materia and stuff. It probably would have made it easier for me if I'd looked at it sooner.
Plus they stole Arith's name. I thought Arith was an original name, but apparently not. Although Final Fantasy's Aerith is a girl...
So, yeah. I don't have the console to play any of the other Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts games (I think there might be a couple FF for the DS) but I may watch some playthroughs on Youtube. I do want to know what happens after, with the other characters.
...
Sob
NO WAAAY! THAT WAS SO FREAKING SAAAD!
WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! How could they do that???!!!
It's like the ending of Okamiden, except more people died in this game...
TT^TT
TT^TT
TT^TT
WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!
Sniffle.
Trying to get over my sorrow so I can write about the game. I don't know if it's working. It was only a couple minutes ago that I finished...
Sob.
Yeah, I liked Zack. Crystal says he's her favorite character of all time. She's the one that lent the game to me, and the PSP. I'd never played a Final Fantasy game before. The people who played the other game probably wouldn't be as startled by the ending as I was. Actually, Ellen and Nicole and Crystal mentioned what happened. Those jerks. So I knew it would happen eventually, but I thought it would happen in a different game. Not this one. So not surprised as I would have been if people hadn't given me SPOILERS. Stop talking about this stuff in front of me when you know I haven't finished the game! Like when Ellen told me who Shiek was, and my cousin said that that one district in The Hunger Games gets blown up.
I was also confused by a lot of the game. Crystal helped me understand some of it.
Like what were they doing to Zack and Cloud after the Sephiroth incident? And why did they want to kill them when they escaped?
Why was Angeal acting all evil when he really wasn't?
What happened to Genesis?
I still don't really get why Sephiroth went all wacko. Yeah, he may have learned something weird, but wasn't he kinda... overreacting? Like trying to kill Zack and people who had nothing to do with the incident? I guess he's a bad guy in the other games.
What was with Genesis? Did he turn good at the end or something? And why'd those people take him away? hat happens to him?
Why'd they turn the director into a clone?
I'm not really used to this sort of game play. I did play the first Kingdom Hearts game, which was similar to this. But I play Pokémon, Zelda, and Okami. That's really different from these games. It took me until before the last boss to even try to play with all the items and materia and stuff. It probably would have made it easier for me if I'd looked at it sooner.
Plus they stole Arith's name. I thought Arith was an original name, but apparently not. Although Final Fantasy's Aerith is a girl...
So, yeah. I don't have the console to play any of the other Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts games (I think there might be a couple FF for the DS) but I may watch some playthroughs on Youtube. I do want to know what happens after, with the other characters.
...
Sob
Friday, November 4, 2011
7 Billion
So, whether or not you know, some time in the last few days or the next few days, the 7 billionth person on the planet will be born.
It's something I really don't know what to say about. I mean, it's too many people. I don't know what anyone's gonna do about it, though. I would never think that killing off a bunch of people would be a solution to anything. Having fewer kids is really important. But tell that to people in developing countries whose children work to help the family survive.
And even if people start having only 1 or 2 kids, population will continue to grow for a while longer anyway. That's because right now there's a lot more young people than old people. It's hard to explain. I kind need a chart to explain. I think I'll wait until someone asks before I try to go into that (as if anyone will ^-^' )
When countries become more developed, and especially when they educate their women, population growth slows. It's something the whole world should be thinking about. All countries need to help each other. Easy to say. Not so easy to convince people of. 7 billion is a lot of people. That's not going to have a small impact on the planet. And it's going to effect everyone. And we need to make life as good as possible for all 7 billion of us.
It's something I really don't know what to say about. I mean, it's too many people. I don't know what anyone's gonna do about it, though. I would never think that killing off a bunch of people would be a solution to anything. Having fewer kids is really important. But tell that to people in developing countries whose children work to help the family survive.
And even if people start having only 1 or 2 kids, population will continue to grow for a while longer anyway. That's because right now there's a lot more young people than old people. It's hard to explain. I kind need a chart to explain. I think I'll wait until someone asks before I try to go into that (as if anyone will ^-^' )
When countries become more developed, and especially when they educate their women, population growth slows. It's something the whole world should be thinking about. All countries need to help each other. Easy to say. Not so easy to convince people of. 7 billion is a lot of people. That's not going to have a small impact on the planet. And it's going to effect everyone. And we need to make life as good as possible for all 7 billion of us.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween! Mwahahahahahahahahahaah!!
Halloween!
Actually... it's the first year that no one's come over for Halloween. Neither of the people I asked could end up making it. Sigh. And our street, usually so busy for Halloween, was less crowded this year. Apparently they all go to a different street now.
So I harassed the neighbors instead. There's 4 of them. Triplets and an older girl. They're all in high school right now. They used to hang around all the time, but I don't see them around much anymore. I followed them around the block. Then when one of the boys and his friend were hiding in their front yard to scare trick-or-treaters, I snuck up and scared them. ^-^ That was cool.
I wore my red Ed jacket and threw on black pants, shirt, sand boots. My white gloves completed my half-ass costume. I don't usually end up cross-dressing, but my girl costumes are too much hassle. Plus I got a heckuvalot due next week . Why does everything have to be do right after HALLOWEEN!!??
Actually... it's the first year that no one's come over for Halloween. Neither of the people I asked could end up making it. Sigh. And our street, usually so busy for Halloween, was less crowded this year. Apparently they all go to a different street now.
So I harassed the neighbors instead. There's 4 of them. Triplets and an older girl. They're all in high school right now. They used to hang around all the time, but I don't see them around much anymore. I followed them around the block. Then when one of the boys and his friend were hiding in their front yard to scare trick-or-treaters, I snuck up and scared them. ^-^ That was cool.
I wore my red Ed jacket and threw on black pants, shirt, sand boots. My white gloves completed my half-ass costume. I don't usually end up cross-dressing, but my girl costumes are too much hassle. Plus I got a heckuvalot due next week . Why does everything have to be do right after HALLOWEEN!!??
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Comic Practice
I was gonna wait until I finished a few more of these, but Crystal bugged me to put them up.
During my classes, my teachers do a lot of talking. So I started drawing some of the comics I'd been wanting to do.
I find it kinda interesting how each one is better than the last. Though none of them are great. But you should see the ones I did a few years ago. Those ones are total garbage. These ones at least have some redeeming features.
I wonder if my writing is legible... Let me know if it's not.
Okay, here's the first one I did. Katani and Tri, from my story. And that's Melly that appears in at the end.
Here's Katani again. And Melly too.
Now I move into my Pokemon fanfic. That's Cara (the Pokemon world version of Fern) and Ben, and Hari. Hari is the wild boy they found. Hence his crazy hair. And he only wears Ben or Cara's shirts, which is why they're so big on him. In one chapter,
Cara called Hari her pet. Which is where this came from.
Cara and Hari again. And Polaris, her Ponyta. That's one of the new Pokemon. A rather ugly one.
Now this is where Fern visits InuYasha's world. Yes, that is Kagome even if it doesn't look like her. And that's Fern's wolf, Fang.
Tell me what you think, guys. Please!! These took lots of time. Time that I could have spent listening to my teachers.
I'll probably finish some more before long.
During my classes, my teachers do a lot of talking. So I started drawing some of the comics I'd been wanting to do.
I find it kinda interesting how each one is better than the last. Though none of them are great. But you should see the ones I did a few years ago. Those ones are total garbage. These ones at least have some redeeming features.
I wonder if my writing is legible... Let me know if it's not.
Okay, here's the first one I did. Katani and Tri, from my story. And that's Melly that appears in at the end.
Here's Katani again. And Melly too.
Now I move into my Pokemon fanfic. That's Cara (the Pokemon world version of Fern) and Ben, and Hari. Hari is the wild boy they found. Hence his crazy hair. And he only wears Ben or Cara's shirts, which is why they're so big on him. In one chapter,
Cara called Hari her pet. Which is where this came from.
Cara and Hari again. And Polaris, her Ponyta. That's one of the new Pokemon. A rather ugly one.
Now this is where Fern visits InuYasha's world. Yes, that is Kagome even if it doesn't look like her. And that's Fern's wolf, Fang.
Tell me what you think, guys. Please!! These took lots of time. Time that I could have spent listening to my teachers.
I'll probably finish some more before long.
Monday, October 24, 2011
The Society After Society
There's a lot of stories I want to write, many of which I've been working on longer and have more developed than this one. But this one seems the most important to me, which is why I want to work on it after I finish Katani (Katani was actually a relatively new idea when I started it, although I incroporated a lot of older ideas into it, like the whole prophecy thing.
That Aftermath episode only helped a little bit in developing my story, and it remained on the back burner for a while longer.
But then I started my climate change class this semester, and ideas came pouring in. I've been building up this society since the beginning of the semester, and I'm getting a pretty good idea about the 3 main characters and the world they're plunged into. I also discovered what will trigger the last breaking of society. And I recently realized that this will probably be the next story I work on.
The story takes place where I live, in the future by about 50 years, maybe? No doubt some countries have gotten off better than America, but some countries are in much worse shape also. I'm not sure what too do about them yet.
I'll start just before the collapse of society, following one girl. I'll go through the collapse, and some time after it. Then I'll skip about 10 years to what the society sort of solidified into given time.
There will be a few people who live in cities where they manage to live off the scant amount of renewable energy available, and they try to develop better energy sources. They can still use technology there. The cities are the only places that keep contact with other countries.
The majority of people will be stuck in the newly formed slums, which were once the suburbs of the old world. They scavenge on what's left of the old society and do their best to grow food and keep alive.
But then a few people will have taken to the woods. The first girl we meet in my story decided to move to the woods to try to protect them from the swarm of people who try to kill all the animals for food and cut down all the trees for fuel and shelter.
I'm going to have one main character from each of these 3 settings.
There's a man that lives relatively well in the city. A girl that lives in the slums, taking care of abandoned cats and growing her garden. The girl that took to the woods lives with a pack of abandoned dogs, trying to protect the wilderness. She also has some horses that were turned loose or escaped, which let her travel fairly well.
This girl was my original character idea. Being the nature fanatic that I am, I was worried that if society came to a messy end, people would swarm all over the forests and totally destroy them in their desperate attempt to get resources (Which in turn makes me feel equally bad for those people). So I thought what if some people decided to try to protect the forests? Good for the forests, but not so good for the people who want wood and game. Which means that the forest guardians are pretty much universally hated.
Last week I finished reading a book that gave me some more ideas for my story. The book was called Tracker, and it's the true story of this boy who learned to track and live in the woods from an old Native American man. There's some really amazing stuff in that book. But the part with the wild dogs is what I want to use in my story. Because the woods this boy hiked all over in had packs of wild dogs. These dogs had no qualms about attacking ad killing humans. Some of that stuff is terrifying. But the most amazing part of the book is when the boy and his friend actually help a pack of dogs out of a hole, and what happened after.
This is what gave me the ideas about the wild dogs that the woods girl has to deal with.
So, I won't go into any more detail here (I could talk about a lot of my stories for ages), but there ya go. the Pandora's box of the end of society has been opened. I did it all tonight after all, even though I have class tomorrow. ^-^'
That Aftermath episode only helped a little bit in developing my story, and it remained on the back burner for a while longer.
But then I started my climate change class this semester, and ideas came pouring in. I've been building up this society since the beginning of the semester, and I'm getting a pretty good idea about the 3 main characters and the world they're plunged into. I also discovered what will trigger the last breaking of society. And I recently realized that this will probably be the next story I work on.
The story takes place where I live, in the future by about 50 years, maybe? No doubt some countries have gotten off better than America, but some countries are in much worse shape also. I'm not sure what too do about them yet.
I'll start just before the collapse of society, following one girl. I'll go through the collapse, and some time after it. Then I'll skip about 10 years to what the society sort of solidified into given time.
There will be a few people who live in cities where they manage to live off the scant amount of renewable energy available, and they try to develop better energy sources. They can still use technology there. The cities are the only places that keep contact with other countries.
The majority of people will be stuck in the newly formed slums, which were once the suburbs of the old world. They scavenge on what's left of the old society and do their best to grow food and keep alive.
But then a few people will have taken to the woods. The first girl we meet in my story decided to move to the woods to try to protect them from the swarm of people who try to kill all the animals for food and cut down all the trees for fuel and shelter.
I'm going to have one main character from each of these 3 settings.
There's a man that lives relatively well in the city. A girl that lives in the slums, taking care of abandoned cats and growing her garden. The girl that took to the woods lives with a pack of abandoned dogs, trying to protect the wilderness. She also has some horses that were turned loose or escaped, which let her travel fairly well.
This girl was my original character idea. Being the nature fanatic that I am, I was worried that if society came to a messy end, people would swarm all over the forests and totally destroy them in their desperate attempt to get resources (Which in turn makes me feel equally bad for those people). So I thought what if some people decided to try to protect the forests? Good for the forests, but not so good for the people who want wood and game. Which means that the forest guardians are pretty much universally hated.
Last week I finished reading a book that gave me some more ideas for my story. The book was called Tracker, and it's the true story of this boy who learned to track and live in the woods from an old Native American man. There's some really amazing stuff in that book. But the part with the wild dogs is what I want to use in my story. Because the woods this boy hiked all over in had packs of wild dogs. These dogs had no qualms about attacking ad killing humans. Some of that stuff is terrifying. But the most amazing part of the book is when the boy and his friend actually help a pack of dogs out of a hole, and what happened after.
This is what gave me the ideas about the wild dogs that the woods girl has to deal with.
So, I won't go into any more detail here (I could talk about a lot of my stories for ages), but there ya go. the Pandora's box of the end of society has been opened. I did it all tonight after all, even though I have class tomorrow. ^-^'
After the Apocalypse
I think this post deserves the record for how long it's been put off. I think I wrote this stuff down in the summer, and It's taken me until now to finally post about it.
So, for a while, I've been building up a story idea, which I think I might work on after Katani. I got the idea from some of Miyazaki's movies, like Nausicaa, that take place after the end of society. Actually, I think that "Origin: Spirits of the Past" is what made me decide to make my own story based in a world after society has broken down.
Since I'm an environmentalist, this society will have broken down because of our destroying the environment, especially our reliance on fossil fuels, which are severely depleting. It will also be suffering from other environmental and societal problems, like climate change and resource degradation and overpopulation.
Sounds nice and cheerful, huh?
So, I'd had this idea for just a little while, but I hadn't really done anything with it because I had no ideas about what such a society would be like.
Then I saw this TV show which I decided to watch (I watch random TV shows maybe 5 times a year, one of which was last night, which leads to a random digression: I watched the first episode of something called "Once Upon a Time" as I was working on a picture for DA. It's interesting. I may watch more).
Anyway, the TV series I saw that helped me with my story was called Aftermath. I'd seen one episode of it before about what would happen to the planet if all humans suddenly vanished. There's some interesting insights (basically at this point, the planet could heal itself almost totally in about 100 years or something like that). But I couldn't help wondering what would happen to all the nonnative species we've imported everywhere. Would the native species regain control? Or would the invasive species continue to spread and wreak havoc until something happened to control them?
So, this Aftermath series has some strange scenarios, like what would humans do if Earth suddenly stopped rotating?
But the episode I saw was what would happen if all of the fossil fuel wells suddenly went dry. It gave me the first ideas of what a society would have to do without if the fossil fuels we depend on so heavily were suddenly torn away. The planet continues to consume fossil fuels while making very little progress in developing renewable energy sources. The closer we get to running out of fossil fuels without developing alternatives, the harder it will be to make the big transition. Because as the amount of oil in the ground decreases, it's harder to get the last bits of it out. Unfortunately, it's already too late to make a smooth transition, but the longer we wait, the worse the change will become.
I'm just gonna list some of the effects of a sudden decrease in fossil fuels that they had in that TV episode (with some of my own notes).
Jobs would be slaughtered.
Energy would be severely regulated. Electricity, phones, ex, would be cut off. Only emergency services would be kept running on what little renewable energy there is.
Ships and trains would be stopped for lack of fuel. Airplanes? I don't think so. They use tons of fuel.
Gas for cars would be really hard to get.
Even the gas you save for emergencies would go bad before long.
You could still use diesel trucks though, and ethanol and electric cars (if you had somewhere to plug them in).
How would you get to a hospital if there was an emergency?
Disease would spread.
No garbage pickup.
Groceries wouldn't get delivered. People would have to start growing their own food.
Livestock wouldn't get fed.
A lot of stuff is made out of fossil fuels, like toothpaste, lipstick, and plastic. But pesticides and fertilizers we use for our crops include fossil fuels too.
Cities could get abandoned.
We'd use sugar cane, corn, and soybeans to make ethanol and diesel. Which means those plants aren't used as food.
Their given solution is that we'd used algae as our primary energy source, but that would take a while to implement. We'd probably have to use a mix of renewable energy sources though, not just rely on algae.
Actually, I thought this series was prong pretty generous. They didn't mention the millions of people on the planet that are only alive because of fossil fuels (remember what I said about agriculture? That's the food that keeps the billions-large population alive).
Does this sort of stuff scare you guys as much as it scares me?
I have another post about further development of this story which maybe I'll do tomorrow.
So, for a while, I've been building up a story idea, which I think I might work on after Katani. I got the idea from some of Miyazaki's movies, like Nausicaa, that take place after the end of society. Actually, I think that "Origin: Spirits of the Past" is what made me decide to make my own story based in a world after society has broken down.
Since I'm an environmentalist, this society will have broken down because of our destroying the environment, especially our reliance on fossil fuels, which are severely depleting. It will also be suffering from other environmental and societal problems, like climate change and resource degradation and overpopulation.
Sounds nice and cheerful, huh?
So, I'd had this idea for just a little while, but I hadn't really done anything with it because I had no ideas about what such a society would be like.
Then I saw this TV show which I decided to watch (I watch random TV shows maybe 5 times a year, one of which was last night, which leads to a random digression: I watched the first episode of something called "Once Upon a Time" as I was working on a picture for DA. It's interesting. I may watch more).
Anyway, the TV series I saw that helped me with my story was called Aftermath. I'd seen one episode of it before about what would happen to the planet if all humans suddenly vanished. There's some interesting insights (basically at this point, the planet could heal itself almost totally in about 100 years or something like that). But I couldn't help wondering what would happen to all the nonnative species we've imported everywhere. Would the native species regain control? Or would the invasive species continue to spread and wreak havoc until something happened to control them?
So, this Aftermath series has some strange scenarios, like what would humans do if Earth suddenly stopped rotating?
But the episode I saw was what would happen if all of the fossil fuel wells suddenly went dry. It gave me the first ideas of what a society would have to do without if the fossil fuels we depend on so heavily were suddenly torn away. The planet continues to consume fossil fuels while making very little progress in developing renewable energy sources. The closer we get to running out of fossil fuels without developing alternatives, the harder it will be to make the big transition. Because as the amount of oil in the ground decreases, it's harder to get the last bits of it out. Unfortunately, it's already too late to make a smooth transition, but the longer we wait, the worse the change will become.
I'm just gonna list some of the effects of a sudden decrease in fossil fuels that they had in that TV episode (with some of my own notes).
Jobs would be slaughtered.
Energy would be severely regulated. Electricity, phones, ex, would be cut off. Only emergency services would be kept running on what little renewable energy there is.
Ships and trains would be stopped for lack of fuel. Airplanes? I don't think so. They use tons of fuel.
Gas for cars would be really hard to get.
Even the gas you save for emergencies would go bad before long.
You could still use diesel trucks though, and ethanol and electric cars (if you had somewhere to plug them in).
How would you get to a hospital if there was an emergency?
Disease would spread.
No garbage pickup.
Groceries wouldn't get delivered. People would have to start growing their own food.
Livestock wouldn't get fed.
A lot of stuff is made out of fossil fuels, like toothpaste, lipstick, and plastic. But pesticides and fertilizers we use for our crops include fossil fuels too.
Cities could get abandoned.
We'd use sugar cane, corn, and soybeans to make ethanol and diesel. Which means those plants aren't used as food.
Their given solution is that we'd used algae as our primary energy source, but that would take a while to implement. We'd probably have to use a mix of renewable energy sources though, not just rely on algae.
Actually, I thought this series was prong pretty generous. They didn't mention the millions of people on the planet that are only alive because of fossil fuels (remember what I said about agriculture? That's the food that keeps the billions-large population alive).
Does this sort of stuff scare you guys as much as it scares me?
I have another post about further development of this story which maybe I'll do tomorrow.
Get Good Teams
So, I think I'll post again right after this, because I'm gonna whine in this one. I've put this justified complaint off since Friday. But it's about that big project I mentioned.
Okay. So take an entire semester course, put it into one big project, and make that project due last Friday instead of at the end of the semester. That project includes a full paper along with several smaller papers, a binder full of our sources (I had to print out about 300 pages - I kid you not), trips to our specific wetland, and interviews with at least 3 experts on the site. And then add two group partners who you're supposed to work with and split all of the "smaller"tasks with.
My partners didn't even start their interviews or anything until a week before the project was due. I had visited my site twice, done all my interviews, and foud most of my sources and even then I had to use all of my free time the last week to go through my sources and write my paper.
My group mates were supposed to get most of their stuff to me on Tuesday so I could start organizing it into a binder. They didn't. So I told them to get it to me Thursday evening. They didn't. So we had to meet before class to finish. I assumed we'd use that time to put all of our stuff together and for me to burn my CD, since my computer wouldn't do it for some reason.
Not so. They hadn't eve FINISHED their papers 3 hours before they were due. And they were working on those instead of all the organizing we still needed to do as a group! I know they did a totally sucky job, and they didn't even really finish their individual reports and CDs. So I couldn't even start putting the binder together until the last second.
I was concerned about the guy from the beginning, and he admitted that he might not have even DONE the project if he didn't have group mates. But I was hoping the girl would at least have her act together...
I was so busy trying to get them organized that I only got to go over my own paper once. I know I did freakishly better than them, but I still could have made my own paper neater.
I freaking hate group projects.
Never get stuck with bad group partners. I can't wait to burn them on our team evaluation sheet. They better not screw up my grade.
Still, I'm amazed at how I was able to communicate with them normally that last morning. No screaming, swearing, or even glaring evilly at them. Considering the circumstances and how I felt about their work, I was perfectly civil. I'm rather amazed I was able to do that in hindsight.
Okay. So take an entire semester course, put it into one big project, and make that project due last Friday instead of at the end of the semester. That project includes a full paper along with several smaller papers, a binder full of our sources (I had to print out about 300 pages - I kid you not), trips to our specific wetland, and interviews with at least 3 experts on the site. And then add two group partners who you're supposed to work with and split all of the "smaller"tasks with.
My partners didn't even start their interviews or anything until a week before the project was due. I had visited my site twice, done all my interviews, and foud most of my sources and even then I had to use all of my free time the last week to go through my sources and write my paper.
My group mates were supposed to get most of their stuff to me on Tuesday so I could start organizing it into a binder. They didn't. So I told them to get it to me Thursday evening. They didn't. So we had to meet before class to finish. I assumed we'd use that time to put all of our stuff together and for me to burn my CD, since my computer wouldn't do it for some reason.
Not so. They hadn't eve FINISHED their papers 3 hours before they were due. And they were working on those instead of all the organizing we still needed to do as a group! I know they did a totally sucky job, and they didn't even really finish their individual reports and CDs. So I couldn't even start putting the binder together until the last second.
I was concerned about the guy from the beginning, and he admitted that he might not have even DONE the project if he didn't have group mates. But I was hoping the girl would at least have her act together...
I was so busy trying to get them organized that I only got to go over my own paper once. I know I did freakishly better than them, but I still could have made my own paper neater.
I freaking hate group projects.
Never get stuck with bad group partners. I can't wait to burn them on our team evaluation sheet. They better not screw up my grade.
Still, I'm amazed at how I was able to communicate with them normally that last morning. No screaming, swearing, or even glaring evilly at them. Considering the circumstances and how I felt about their work, I was perfectly civil. I'm rather amazed I was able to do that in hindsight.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Doorway to Darkness
I just realized that this probably merits a post.
I finished a fanfic yesterday. The 3rd part of my Pokémon fanfic.
So as soon as I can, I'm gonna start part 4.
I say as soon as I can because I have a huge (really freaking monstrously huge) project due next week, and my two partners are less than desirable.
Ugh. As long as they give me their parts, I'll be happy.
I still have a lot to do. I've finally gone through the 200 page watershed management plan and picked out the information that will be helpful. That plan has most of what I need. But I need 20 other sources in addition to that. I've been to my site twice and done most of my interviews. Despite the sheer amount I still have left to do, I'm probably not in too bad shape.
My partners... not so much.
I finished a fanfic yesterday. The 3rd part of my Pokémon fanfic.
So as soon as I can, I'm gonna start part 4.
I say as soon as I can because I have a huge (really freaking monstrously huge) project due next week, and my two partners are less than desirable.
Ugh. As long as they give me their parts, I'll be happy.
I still have a lot to do. I've finally gone through the 200 page watershed management plan and picked out the information that will be helpful. That plan has most of what I need. But I need 20 other sources in addition to that. I've been to my site twice and done most of my interviews. Despite the sheer amount I still have left to do, I'm probably not in too bad shape.
My partners... not so much.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Opossum
Bwahahahah! Three posts in one day!
This is because I meant to post both yesterday and the day before and I didn't.
So on Friday when I went to volunteer at the humane society, Marisa tells me, "Tara, you're releasing an opossum today."
I went O_O
After several years of volunteering there, I'd never been present at a release. And I got to do this one all myself! I put the young opossum in a box with a towel and drove home with it.
I went inside and said to Mom and Dad, "guess what I've got in the back of my car!"
It took them forever to guess opossum. Dad's been bugging me to ask about releases for ages, but I never remember when I'm there because there's usually a lot to do (except during winter). So, it just kind of happened without my asking.
So Dad came with me and I drove behind the cemetery near my house where there's kind of a creek. Dusk was just starting, which is when you're supposed to release opossums. I walked down the hill very slowly because it was a bit muddy. I open the box where the baby opossum is diligently playing dead with his mouth open and his teeth showing.
Then Dad calls for me to wait so he can get my picture and he starts jogging down the slope towards me. I look over at him and seem him run down the hill past me, and I sort of think to myself, "why is he still running down?" Then I realize that he can't stop because of the mud! Finally his feet slip out from under him and he ends up on his back.
After than interesting little distraction, I pull out the possum-playing opossum and set him in a small trough I'd pushed out of the leaves, sheltered beneath a tree. I set a couple larger leaves over him to shield him from view, and then we headed off.
It wasn't one of those things where you open the box and the animal scampers off to freedom. The little guy will probably lay there until it's nice and dark.
Do well, little opossum! Grow up big and healthy!
This is because I meant to post both yesterday and the day before and I didn't.
So on Friday when I went to volunteer at the humane society, Marisa tells me, "Tara, you're releasing an opossum today."
I went O_O
After several years of volunteering there, I'd never been present at a release. And I got to do this one all myself! I put the young opossum in a box with a towel and drove home with it.
I went inside and said to Mom and Dad, "guess what I've got in the back of my car!"
It took them forever to guess opossum. Dad's been bugging me to ask about releases for ages, but I never remember when I'm there because there's usually a lot to do (except during winter). So, it just kind of happened without my asking.
So Dad came with me and I drove behind the cemetery near my house where there's kind of a creek. Dusk was just starting, which is when you're supposed to release opossums. I walked down the hill very slowly because it was a bit muddy. I open the box where the baby opossum is diligently playing dead with his mouth open and his teeth showing.
Then Dad calls for me to wait so he can get my picture and he starts jogging down the slope towards me. I look over at him and seem him run down the hill past me, and I sort of think to myself, "why is he still running down?" Then I realize that he can't stop because of the mud! Finally his feet slip out from under him and he ends up on his back.
After than interesting little distraction, I pull out the possum-playing opossum and set him in a small trough I'd pushed out of the leaves, sheltered beneath a tree. I set a couple larger leaves over him to shield him from view, and then we headed off.
It wasn't one of those things where you open the box and the animal scampers off to freedom. The little guy will probably lay there until it's nice and dark.
Do well, little opossum! Grow up big and healthy!
Fern and Ben Comission
Instead of working on my terrifying project, I will procrastinate farther and post the commission picture I ordered a while ago. It's from the artist Jeneko, who I asked to do a picture of Fern and Ben. I told her a little about them and just let her do whatever she wanted.
She hasn't put it on DA yet, but I'll update this when she does.
So pretty ^-^ I love Fern's wings. And there's a sunset beach behind them. With birds. ^-^
There's only one commission I'm still waiting for.
I'm still a bit obsessed with commissions, but I kinda need to wait until I actually get some more money. @_@
Leaf occasionally sneaks up on me while I'm on the computer and jumps on my lap. It scares the hell out of me. She did it earlier tonight. I thought she was in Mom's room, so I wasn't even trying to keep my eyes out for her.
She hasn't put it on DA yet, but I'll update this when she does.
So pretty ^-^ I love Fern's wings. And there's a sunset beach behind them. With birds. ^-^
There's only one commission I'm still waiting for.
I'm still a bit obsessed with commissions, but I kinda need to wait until I actually get some more money. @_@
Leaf occasionally sneaks up on me while I'm on the computer and jumps on my lap. It scares the hell out of me. She did it earlier tonight. I thought she was in Mom's room, so I wasn't even trying to keep my eyes out for her.
Katani Interview
So, I was planning on starting Katani's interview tonight since I really need to work on my terrifyingly large wetlands project. But I got kinda hooked on it, and Katani and I finished the whole thing. With some help from Tyra.
So, yes. Tyra is Katani's dragon. Lari, Len, Garrett, Tri, Melly, and Dominic are the human friends that Katani works with. They're all Retrievers, spread across two different teams. Each of them has their own dragon partner and they fly around collecting certain things. Cause the interview makes more sense if you know that. And they talk to their dragons with telepathy.
Character interview
1) What gender are you?
Uh, a boy, I hope.
2) How old are you?
Well, during the book I’m 16 and 17. I’ll say 17.
3) What’s your favorite dessert?
I have to pick one? Chocolate cake. With good frosting.
4) What’s your favorite drink?
Katani: Hmmm…
Me: I’m waiting.
Katani: I can’t think of anything!
Me: Come on! What do you like to drink!
Katani: Well, you won’t let me say coke!
Me: Well, you don’t have coke on your world! Besides, it’s bad for you.
Katani: Jeez! Just put that rice drink, horchata, and leave me alone!
5) What is your favorite food?
Pizza
6) What is your favorite ice-cream flavor?
Strawberry
7) What is something you hate doing?
Almost getting killed by wild dragons and people.
8) Do you hate anyone?
Only people that have tried to kill me.
9) What’s your biggest fear?
Uh… that the rebellion would go haywire and everyone would die?
10) Do you have any secrets?
Not that I can think of.
11) What's your weakness?
Katani: I dunno. None?
Me: Don’t listen to him. He gets mad when people overreact about his eyes. And he’s deathly ticklish.
Katani: How is that a weakness!?
Me: Because you’ll do anything to make someone stop tickling you.
Tyra: It’s fun to poke him with the tip of my tail.
Katani: go away, Tyra! This is my interview!
12) When is your birthday?
October 12
13) What are your hobbies?
I like working with rope and stuff.
14) What is your favorite season?
Fall
15) What's your favorite color?
Dark red
16) Are you social or shy?
I don’t think I’m shy…
17) Are you nice or mean?
I don’t think I’m mean…
18) Do you consider yourself a happy or a down person?
Katani: I guess happy most of the time.
Me: Can’t you sound a little more certain about these?
19) What do you think of your parents?
They’re pretty cool. Dad a little more than Mom, maybe.
20) What do you think of your friends?
They’re all crazy.
21) Which of your friends is most annoying?
Katani: Tri, Garrett, and Melly are all pretty annoying. Melly in a different way. But if you want to go beyond humans, the gold medal goes to Tyra.
Tyra: After everything I’ve done for you?
Katani: And all of my food you steal!
22) Do you love someone?
Katani: Nah.
Me: realllllly?
23) Ever kissed anyone?
No
24) Would you like to get married some day?
Sure, I guess.
25) Would you ever like to have kids?
I suppose so, maybe.
26) Which friend do you trust most?
Lari, I guess. And Dominic.
27) Which friend do you trust least?
If you mean with secrets, Melly. She could never keep a secret.
28) Who is your best friend(s)?
Hmm. That’s kinda changed. I seem to have more than I used to. Mainly Lari, Tri, Garrett, and Dominic. I haven’t seen Len in a while, but him too.
29) What do you consider fun in the day-time?
Hanging out with friends and visiting the city.
30) At night?
Actually, hide-and-go-seek in the dark is pretty fun…
31) What’s your favorite place to hang out?
The beach.
32) What’s your favorite place to vacation?
Dunno. I fly all over the place with Tyra.
33) What place would you really like to visit?
One of the other countries, I guess. Telian, maybe. They seem to have the fewest big problems.
34) How often do you work out/exercise?
I have to every day, as long as I’m a Retriever.
35) What sporty activities do you like?
Sword fighting is pretty fun.
36) When was the last time you cried?
Katani: I don’t know?
Me: What about that time on the beach?
Katani: That wasn’t crying! I got sprayed in the face by a wave!
Me: Is that right?
37) Do you have a pet?
Katani: Does an obnoxious dragon count?
Tyra: What are you talking about? You’re my pet!
38) What do you do on a regular basis?
Train and fly and try to keep my dinner away from Tyra.
39) If you could buy anything, what would it be?
Katani: A muzzle for Tyra.
Tyra: Katani, you’re sooo mean!
40) Do you consider yourself a warrior?
I hope so, considering how much training I have to do.
41) What's your nickname?
Sometimes my friends call me Katana to bug me.
42) What does that mean?
It’s a Japanese sword.
43) What do you usually wear?
Katani: Pants and a shirt?
Me: Thank you for being so specific. What about your Retriever uniform?
Katani: If I’m on a mission, yeah.
44) If you were a superhero, you'd be...?
Uh, a kid that rides around on a lightning-spitting dragon?
45) What’s your favorite movie?
Katani: Avatar, I guess.
Me: Really? You like that dragon-ish stuff even when you have an obnoxious dragon like Tyra?
Katani: What’s that got to do with anything? It’s an awesome movie!
Tyra: I’m cooler than any of the dragons in that movie. And you don’t need to attach your hair to my head to hear my thoughts.
Katani: Do you know how weird that sounds?
46) What’s your favorite book?
Jeez, I dunno. Hunger Games was pretty good.
47) What's your favorite song?
I’m severely limited in my choices considering I can only pick songs you know. I like that Japanese one, On Your Mark.
48) Do you have a favorite band?
Again, severely limited. The only band you listen to consistently is the Beatles. So by process of elimination, I have to choose that one because it’s the only one I know.
49) What did you want to do as a kid?
Be a Retriever.
50) What are you doing with your life?
… Being a Retriever.
51)? What would you like to do with your life?
… Be a Retreiver.
52) What would you change about the world if you could?
Katani: About your world or mine?
Me: My world, because mine is the one with real problems.
Katani: How are my problems not real? Fine then. Stop screwing the planet up, people!
Me: Ah, yes. Thank you for putting it so delicately.
53) And finally… what is your favorite Pokémon?
Katani: Seriously! You’re gonna make me go through all 650 Pokemon! You’ve gotta be freaking kidding. Okay, fine. Let’s get this over with.
…
I like Garchomp and Ninetales.
Me: Not Flygon? It’s a green dragon, like Tyra.
Katani: Gah! Stop comparing things to Tyra!
Tyra: But Katani, you know you love me!
So, yes. Tyra is Katani's dragon. Lari, Len, Garrett, Tri, Melly, and Dominic are the human friends that Katani works with. They're all Retrievers, spread across two different teams. Each of them has their own dragon partner and they fly around collecting certain things. Cause the interview makes more sense if you know that. And they talk to their dragons with telepathy.
Character interview
1) What gender are you?
Uh, a boy, I hope.
2) How old are you?
Well, during the book I’m 16 and 17. I’ll say 17.
3) What’s your favorite dessert?
I have to pick one? Chocolate cake. With good frosting.
4) What’s your favorite drink?
Katani: Hmmm…
Me: I’m waiting.
Katani: I can’t think of anything!
Me: Come on! What do you like to drink!
Katani: Well, you won’t let me say coke!
Me: Well, you don’t have coke on your world! Besides, it’s bad for you.
Katani: Jeez! Just put that rice drink, horchata, and leave me alone!
5) What is your favorite food?
Pizza
6) What is your favorite ice-cream flavor?
Strawberry
7) What is something you hate doing?
Almost getting killed by wild dragons and people.
8) Do you hate anyone?
Only people that have tried to kill me.
9) What’s your biggest fear?
Uh… that the rebellion would go haywire and everyone would die?
10) Do you have any secrets?
Not that I can think of.
11) What's your weakness?
Katani: I dunno. None?
Me: Don’t listen to him. He gets mad when people overreact about his eyes. And he’s deathly ticklish.
Katani: How is that a weakness!?
Me: Because you’ll do anything to make someone stop tickling you.
Tyra: It’s fun to poke him with the tip of my tail.
Katani: go away, Tyra! This is my interview!
12) When is your birthday?
October 12
13) What are your hobbies?
I like working with rope and stuff.
14) What is your favorite season?
Fall
15) What's your favorite color?
Dark red
16) Are you social or shy?
I don’t think I’m shy…
17) Are you nice or mean?
I don’t think I’m mean…
18) Do you consider yourself a happy or a down person?
Katani: I guess happy most of the time.
Me: Can’t you sound a little more certain about these?
19) What do you think of your parents?
They’re pretty cool. Dad a little more than Mom, maybe.
20) What do you think of your friends?
They’re all crazy.
21) Which of your friends is most annoying?
Katani: Tri, Garrett, and Melly are all pretty annoying. Melly in a different way. But if you want to go beyond humans, the gold medal goes to Tyra.
Tyra: After everything I’ve done for you?
Katani: And all of my food you steal!
22) Do you love someone?
Katani: Nah.
Me: realllllly?
23) Ever kissed anyone?
No
24) Would you like to get married some day?
Sure, I guess.
25) Would you ever like to have kids?
I suppose so, maybe.
26) Which friend do you trust most?
Lari, I guess. And Dominic.
27) Which friend do you trust least?
If you mean with secrets, Melly. She could never keep a secret.
28) Who is your best friend(s)?
Hmm. That’s kinda changed. I seem to have more than I used to. Mainly Lari, Tri, Garrett, and Dominic. I haven’t seen Len in a while, but him too.
29) What do you consider fun in the day-time?
Hanging out with friends and visiting the city.
30) At night?
Actually, hide-and-go-seek in the dark is pretty fun…
31) What’s your favorite place to hang out?
The beach.
32) What’s your favorite place to vacation?
Dunno. I fly all over the place with Tyra.
33) What place would you really like to visit?
One of the other countries, I guess. Telian, maybe. They seem to have the fewest big problems.
34) How often do you work out/exercise?
I have to every day, as long as I’m a Retriever.
35) What sporty activities do you like?
Sword fighting is pretty fun.
36) When was the last time you cried?
Katani: I don’t know?
Me: What about that time on the beach?
Katani: That wasn’t crying! I got sprayed in the face by a wave!
Me: Is that right?
37) Do you have a pet?
Katani: Does an obnoxious dragon count?
Tyra: What are you talking about? You’re my pet!
38) What do you do on a regular basis?
Train and fly and try to keep my dinner away from Tyra.
39) If you could buy anything, what would it be?
Katani: A muzzle for Tyra.
Tyra: Katani, you’re sooo mean!
40) Do you consider yourself a warrior?
I hope so, considering how much training I have to do.
41) What's your nickname?
Sometimes my friends call me Katana to bug me.
42) What does that mean?
It’s a Japanese sword.
43) What do you usually wear?
Katani: Pants and a shirt?
Me: Thank you for being so specific. What about your Retriever uniform?
Katani: If I’m on a mission, yeah.
44) If you were a superhero, you'd be...?
Uh, a kid that rides around on a lightning-spitting dragon?
45) What’s your favorite movie?
Katani: Avatar, I guess.
Me: Really? You like that dragon-ish stuff even when you have an obnoxious dragon like Tyra?
Katani: What’s that got to do with anything? It’s an awesome movie!
Tyra: I’m cooler than any of the dragons in that movie. And you don’t need to attach your hair to my head to hear my thoughts.
Katani: Do you know how weird that sounds?
46) What’s your favorite book?
Jeez, I dunno. Hunger Games was pretty good.
47) What's your favorite song?
I’m severely limited in my choices considering I can only pick songs you know. I like that Japanese one, On Your Mark.
48) Do you have a favorite band?
Again, severely limited. The only band you listen to consistently is the Beatles. So by process of elimination, I have to choose that one because it’s the only one I know.
49) What did you want to do as a kid?
Be a Retriever.
50) What are you doing with your life?
… Being a Retriever.
51)? What would you like to do with your life?
… Be a Retreiver.
52) What would you change about the world if you could?
Katani: About your world or mine?
Me: My world, because mine is the one with real problems.
Katani: How are my problems not real? Fine then. Stop screwing the planet up, people!
Me: Ah, yes. Thank you for putting it so delicately.
53) And finally… what is your favorite Pokémon?
Katani: Seriously! You’re gonna make me go through all 650 Pokemon! You’ve gotta be freaking kidding. Okay, fine. Let’s get this over with.
…
I like Garchomp and Ninetales.
Me: Not Flygon? It’s a green dragon, like Tyra.
Katani: Gah! Stop comparing things to Tyra!
Tyra: But Katani, you know you love me!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Matantei Loki Ragnarok
Leaf's asleep on my lap right now. It's so different having a cat that actually sits on my lap. Midnight wasn't like this.
I haven't been posting enough on this blog about my actual stories. Two days ago, I had an idea that I should interview some of my characters, like Katani. That would be fun. But I didn't know what questions to ask. Then yesterday, a friend from fanfiction actually posted a fictional character interview. It was like, "holy cow. How did you know to post this the day after I had the idea to do it myself!
I've changed a lot of the questions, mainly deleting and adding some. But I haven't asked Katani most of them yet. So as I'm working on that, I'll do another random post.
Two days ago I finished watching an anime that Nicole recommended to me in high school that I never really watched until last month (Actually, I did watch maybe 2 episodes when she recommended it to me, but that was before I really watched anime, so I didn't really grasp a lot of it. This was the same time that she recommended Ouran to me, and it freaked me out when I saw it the first time even though I love it now). Anyway,this one is Matantei Loki Ragnarok (Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok).
It wasn't bad. The ending was kind of confusing. But there was some funny stuff in it. The puppy was really cute (to look at, at least). And when the guy turned into the giant snake, I went "YESSSS!!!! TOTALLY AWESOME!!!"
And I can't help laughing about Heimdell. Once again, the voice actor does the voice of a short, tough guy. Ed, Hitsugaya, and now Heimdell. Heheh.
So, not perfect, but fun in its own way. But I'd say it's worth watching.
Which reminds me. My Little Pony was actually quite good. I finished the first season about a week ago. It had fun characters.
I did have a few My Little Pony's as a kid. And I actually went back and watched a movie that I remembered about as a kid. The movie was very bad. Heheh. Oh well. The new series is fun at least.
I haven't been posting enough on this blog about my actual stories. Two days ago, I had an idea that I should interview some of my characters, like Katani. That would be fun. But I didn't know what questions to ask. Then yesterday, a friend from fanfiction actually posted a fictional character interview. It was like, "holy cow. How did you know to post this the day after I had the idea to do it myself!
I've changed a lot of the questions, mainly deleting and adding some. But I haven't asked Katani most of them yet. So as I'm working on that, I'll do another random post.
Two days ago I finished watching an anime that Nicole recommended to me in high school that I never really watched until last month (Actually, I did watch maybe 2 episodes when she recommended it to me, but that was before I really watched anime, so I didn't really grasp a lot of it. This was the same time that she recommended Ouran to me, and it freaked me out when I saw it the first time even though I love it now). Anyway,this one is Matantei Loki Ragnarok (Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok).
It wasn't bad. The ending was kind of confusing. But there was some funny stuff in it. The puppy was really cute (to look at, at least). And when the guy turned into the giant snake, I went "YESSSS!!!! TOTALLY AWESOME!!!"
And I can't help laughing about Heimdell. Once again, the voice actor does the voice of a short, tough guy. Ed, Hitsugaya, and now Heimdell. Heheh.
So, not perfect, but fun in its own way. But I'd say it's worth watching.
Which reminds me. My Little Pony was actually quite good. I finished the first season about a week ago. It had fun characters.
I did have a few My Little Pony's as a kid. And I actually went back and watched a movie that I remembered about as a kid. The movie was very bad. Heheh. Oh well. The new series is fun at least.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Ok ok ok before you shoot me down, or tell me that watching kid's shows is fail, you have to watch My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It's really well done, the art style and direction is really good, with a wide variety of character styles and personalities. While the lack of guy ponies is a little strange, they do have guy ponies, even if they don't play an important role in the actual storyline.
I had heard good things about this show and I felt that I had to watch, so somewhat begrudgingly I started on the first episode. So while the first arc is a little...silly and very cliche and basic, the variety of characters makes it interesting as well as their designs. Actually you should just watch this. It'll take four minutes compared to the hour of the first two episodes that make the first arc, and you can see someone's reaction of not wanting to watch and being super-skeptical to really liking it and wanting a figure of one of the ponies to sit on his desk.
I had heard good things about this show and I felt that I had to watch, so somewhat begrudgingly I started on the first episode. So while the first arc is a little...silly and very cliche and basic, the variety of characters makes it interesting as well as their designs. Actually you should just watch this. It'll take four minutes compared to the hour of the first two episodes that make the first arc, and you can see someone's reaction of not wanting to watch and being super-skeptical to really liking it and wanting a figure of one of the ponies to sit on his desk.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Little Anime Convention
There was actually an anime convention think today at UC Berkeley. Not really close, but I thought it would be worth checking out.
It was pretty small. A fraction of the size of one of the rooms at fanime. There were a few nice booths, though most of the artists aren't as good as the ones at fanime. They're probably students at the campus.
I actually found out about it through an artist on Deviantart (one of a couple hundred that I follow O_O ). Here she is. Anyway, she's really good, and she was there, so I got to talk to her and I got a couple prints from her. I would have gotten more... but I gotta use my money somewhere else. Sigh.
I got the Okami one and the Princess Mononoke one. I've loved the Mononoke one for a while, so it was cool to get a real copy for my room. I also wanted this one and this one too. Heheh. I like pretty pictures.
Her comic is really beautifully done too. I recommend it.
It was pretty small. A fraction of the size of one of the rooms at fanime. There were a few nice booths, though most of the artists aren't as good as the ones at fanime. They're probably students at the campus.
I actually found out about it through an artist on Deviantart (one of a couple hundred that I follow O_O ). Here she is. Anyway, she's really good, and she was there, so I got to talk to her and I got a couple prints from her. I would have gotten more... but I gotta use my money somewhere else. Sigh.
I got the Okami one and the Princess Mononoke one. I've loved the Mononoke one for a while, so it was cool to get a real copy for my room. I also wanted this one and this one too. Heheh. I like pretty pictures.
Her comic is really beautifully done too. I recommend it.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Characters
Since Tara was feeling lonely I'll post :D
I've been working on making actual characters for once. And I mean characters with which I will have my conversations with. For the most part I eavesdrop or I just know the characters well enough after a while. Right now I've composed a list of traits, kind of like what you would find in a game of Dungeons and Dragons or an RPG.
So for this I used a random number generator, for age I picked an age group. For example, 18-30 and used the resulting numbers and assigned them to a 'character' slot. Then I used a random name generator to find interesting words to make names. I put those words into google translate from English to Latin, then I take the Latin to Japanese, then Japanese to English, then English to Latin. You might say "Well what's the point of that? You'll just get the same thing." And I'd say, "WRONG"
Because Google translate fails so terribly at translating, you'll get different words as you switch them between the languages, so you'll be able to find synonyms and other interesting sounding words. If you stumble across one you like, great! If not keep going. Eventually you will hit a wall of repetition, just pick another word to go by in the results and continue.
Then I used a random number generator between 1-1000 and assign the number to the following categories with no discrimination or number tweaking. This will create the little quirks and flaws that make your character seem real. For the Jung-Meyer-Brigg part and the role, use a random number generator of 1-16 and find the complete list with descriptions of the personality types. Then go through the list with the random number pointing to the location of the personality. For example, if the number was 4, you'd go to the fourth personality in the list and use that. The 'Role' is just an additional thing that you can find in the Jung-Meyer-Brigg personality description. You may have to do some hunting to find it, but it can be helpful to get an overall feel for the character and what their role is amongst other people.
For the birthday, find a random day generator and get some days. Then find their astrological sign and attach that to the character. Then compare the characters astrological signs and compatibility to see who gets along with whom.
Role
Jung-Meyer-Brigg
Birthdate
Sign
Name Last First Middle
Gender
Age
Level
Strength Health Points (1-1000) Attack power Max carry weight
Constitution Stamina (1-1000) Endurance Vitality
Dexterity Agility (1-1000) Reflexes (1-1000) Speed (1-1000)
Intelligence Intellect Mind Wits
Charisma Presence Charm Social
Wisdom Spirit Psyche Sense
Willpower Sanity Personality Ego
Perception Alertness Awareness Cautiousness
Luck
Education
Size Mass Height
Appearance
Social standing
And then you're done! Woot!
I've been working on making actual characters for once. And I mean characters with which I will have my conversations with. For the most part I eavesdrop or I just know the characters well enough after a while. Right now I've composed a list of traits, kind of like what you would find in a game of Dungeons and Dragons or an RPG.
So for this I used a random number generator, for age I picked an age group. For example, 18-30 and used the resulting numbers and assigned them to a 'character' slot. Then I used a random name generator to find interesting words to make names. I put those words into google translate from English to Latin, then I take the Latin to Japanese, then Japanese to English, then English to Latin. You might say "Well what's the point of that? You'll just get the same thing." And I'd say, "WRONG"
Because Google translate fails so terribly at translating, you'll get different words as you switch them between the languages, so you'll be able to find synonyms and other interesting sounding words. If you stumble across one you like, great! If not keep going. Eventually you will hit a wall of repetition, just pick another word to go by in the results and continue.
Then I used a random number generator between 1-1000 and assign the number to the following categories with no discrimination or number tweaking. This will create the little quirks and flaws that make your character seem real. For the Jung-Meyer-Brigg part and the role, use a random number generator of 1-16 and find the complete list with descriptions of the personality types. Then go through the list with the random number pointing to the location of the personality. For example, if the number was 4, you'd go to the fourth personality in the list and use that. The 'Role' is just an additional thing that you can find in the Jung-Meyer-Brigg personality description. You may have to do some hunting to find it, but it can be helpful to get an overall feel for the character and what their role is amongst other people.
For the birthday, find a random day generator and get some days. Then find their astrological sign and attach that to the character. Then compare the characters astrological signs and compatibility to see who gets along with whom.
Role
Jung-Meyer-Brigg
Birthdate
Sign
Name Last First Middle
Gender
Age
Level
Strength Health Points (1-1000) Attack power Max carry weight
Constitution Stamina (1-1000) Endurance Vitality
Dexterity Agility (1-1000) Reflexes (1-1000) Speed (1-1000)
Intelligence Intellect Mind Wits
Charisma Presence Charm Social
Wisdom Spirit Psyche Sense
Willpower Sanity Personality Ego
Perception Alertness Awareness Cautiousness
Luck
Education
Size Mass Height
Appearance
Social standing
And then you're done! Woot!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Imaginary Friends
I wonder how many authors have imaginary friends. I think in a way all characters are sort of like imaginary friends. Though I don't know how many writers consider their characters to be so.
Take it another step. I wonder how many writers talk to their characters.
I actually find it really helpful to do that. If I can't think what'll happen next in a story, or how someone will react to something, I ask my character. It's actually pretty fun to hold a conversation with my characters (in my head - I don't talk to them out loud).
I think Nicole thinks I'm weird for doing this.
But at least I know I'm not the only one! Crystal says her characters like to ignore her.
I'm feeling lonely on the blog, so you guys should post your thoughts on the subject!
Take it another step. I wonder how many writers talk to their characters.
I actually find it really helpful to do that. If I can't think what'll happen next in a story, or how someone will react to something, I ask my character. It's actually pretty fun to hold a conversation with my characters (in my head - I don't talk to them out loud).
I think Nicole thinks I'm weird for doing this.
But at least I know I'm not the only one! Crystal says her characters like to ignore her.
I'm feeling lonely on the blog, so you guys should post your thoughts on the subject!
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Fang
So I tried to draw Fang, Fern's wolf. He didn't turn out very good. But anyway, here he is.
Since Fang is a rather plain black wolf with brown eyes, I was trying to figure out a way to make him recognizable. Maybe he could wear something. Like a collar. But Fang gets a lot of action, and a collar could get caught on something. Then an idea clicked into my head. A wristband sort of thing. One that fits snug enough to not get caught. It's made of thick wires of gold, silver, and copper (I think the last is copper). They're all twisted together. Here's a picture of it.
And here's a random picture of Fern. Just experimenting with different expressions, ex.
Since Fang is a rather plain black wolf with brown eyes, I was trying to figure out a way to make him recognizable. Maybe he could wear something. Like a collar. But Fang gets a lot of action, and a collar could get caught on something. Then an idea clicked into my head. A wristband sort of thing. One that fits snug enough to not get caught. It's made of thick wires of gold, silver, and copper (I think the last is copper). They're all twisted together. Here's a picture of it.
And here's a random picture of Fern. Just experimenting with different expressions, ex.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
KITTTTEEEEYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!
I FINALLY GOT A KITTEN!!!
I've been trying to talk Mom into letting us get another one for THREE YEARS. And she finally gave in.
Here she is!!! Her name is Leaf. She's such a sweetheart! She's such a purr machine. She loves to cuddle and play.
As much as I loved Midnight, she was not a lap cat. Leaf is much more of a lap cat.
Here's some of my first pictures of her.
I've been trying to talk Mom into letting us get another one for THREE YEARS. And she finally gave in.
Here she is!!! Her name is Leaf. She's such a sweetheart! She's such a purr machine. She loves to cuddle and play.
As much as I loved Midnight, she was not a lap cat. Leaf is much more of a lap cat.
Here's some of my first pictures of her.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Ben Sketch
The lines look funny because I darkened them on the computer and didn't try to make them look fancy. Anyway, I sketched this during class. It's Ben from the front, because I don't have any good pictures of him from the front.
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