A Loyal Mount

I'm having fun with this.

I drew this while watching 'The Pirate" with Chelsea. I'm apparently learning how to draw dinosaurs and alligators instead of actual animals.

Wolves are next. One day I'm going to draw Ainmire as a proper wolf.

But anyways, I named Tinette's dinosaur Jules. Partly after Jules Verne, and partly because he was the first name that popped into my head while I was looking for the dwarf crocodile at the zoo. After Stuart.

Hee hee. Happy.

And some Sherlock doodles!

The first few I drew for Chelsea. Sherry and Kit are sort of incredibly adorable, and I enjoy them highly. I like the idea that in the RP we have them in, Sherry can build things! He is an experimenter who likes to try new things; why
wouldn't he invent some roller skates to pass the time on their super long trip through space?

Hell, I'd totally invent roller skates if I was stuck in space for three years.

On top of that is a slightly aged Sherry, by about six years or so. That would make him about twenty two- and also Chelsea's age. I drew him with an older Ninja, who is busy inventing him sunglasses so he can see where he's going without turning her to stone.

The CSI Miami Sherry in the bottom right led to hilarity; I highly enjoyed that conversation.

Annie

11:12

Liesurely Stroll

I expect there to be a lot of these two in the time that follows- due to the fact that I'm finally starting a comic story, and it happens to star them.

Theta Gamma is where the two live; level Theta, section Gamma. Often referred to as "Theta Gamma Quadrant" and etc for all levels and quadrants of Rise. Alpha Alpha Quadrant, Alpha Beta Quadrant, Alpha Gamma Quadrant, Alpha Delta Quadrant; then BETA Alpha Qua- you get the point. I skipped "Epsilon" in the Greek alphabet when I was naming the seven levels. Mostly because I couldn't pronounce it.

So as impressed as I am with myself for finally starting a project somewhere, I'm sad. Why? Because Rebel and Ninja are very solitary workers. They have their story, and they play their roles, but they don't interact with as many characters as in my other story, and that makes me sad. That one has Suka, Alan, Eli, Ain, Kara, Tina, Booster, Jem, Yukio- etc. This has Rebel, Ninja, Alleiah, and a chance of Sherry. Which is good, I wanted to start simple, ah ha! The other one is going to be a real bit of dedication.

Like I said, I'm impressed I'm actually starting something; these are my first attempts at making comics since Peck- aaaand I'm not going to delve too deeply on Peck the woodpecker and my attempts at gag humour.

I just realized Archie comics were my very first influence as a child.

Happy times. This is my fourth day of my self-implemented "Remain positive" regime. Gotta say, getting up for stretches at the crack of dawn is harsh. But, I feel okay. Go me.

11:27

Annie

Dinosaur

Because you know what, Tinette isn't scary enough unless she's traveling around on a giant carnivorous creature.

I haven't named him yet.

I haven't RPed in a while, so I'm exploring hilarious and extravagant things I can make my characters do that I probably can't do in an RP because it's too late or out of world or something. In my world, she's perfectly capable of owning this thing. Probably pulls her sham fortune cart in the caravan or something.

This is what came out of my last post of Tina riding an alligator; I decided an alligator was too close to the ground for Tinette's comfort, so now she gets to ride around on a... uhm... Postosuchus, one of the earlier dinosaurs.

It's basically a hybrid of a tyrannosaurus and an alligator, so it wins. Anatomy fail. I really don't care, I made it up. Messy backgrounds are messy. Not to self, plan and draw a background before I colour a picture; it makes the painting process ten million times easier. So until I remember that! Messymessymess.

Tinette. And her dinosaur.

1:41

Annie

Some Things Are Too Awesome

Yesterday in layout class, Komza had us drawing animals. Without references.

Let's just say it was depressing and frustrating. I walked home with Leah, and I asked her, "Leah, what am I doing here if I can't draw animals?" to which she answered, logically, "To learn to draw animals?"

Which is where this challenge came from! Leah told me I should give my characters mounts. Like Beaddan. And to draw animals that way. Which lead to her challenging me to draw Tinette on an alligator (I have been wrong about crocodiles and alligators my entire life) and me challenging her to draw Marc on a bear. I didn't draw mine last night, and neither did she, so we both drew them today at break. Thinking about it, there is no way Tinette would ride an alligator. Not because they're deadly, or frightening (Tinette? Fear? Never.) but because they're so low to the ground, and she wears one of two things; her incredibly long gypsy dress, or incredibly short, incredibly tight skirts. Panty shot? Shoot. That, and she has insanely long hair, and if she was riding a gator, it would more that likely drag on the ground unless appropriately clipped up.

Which in this picture, it is.

I also imagine that saddle to be insanely not comfortable; and I imagine straddling a gator to appropriately ride one, wouldn't be comfortable. And those knee braces. And leg braces. Ow.

8:01

Annie

Ga Haha

And now I have a title page! Wow, I've never seen myself get this far. I'm rather impressed.

As per usual with everything I work on; I just made a big mess and had a lot of fun painting it. Yippee!

Welcome to Rise.

The title page.

I'll just pretend Ninja has perfectly normal length arms.

Thar you go guys, you finally know what the giant junk heap is for; you know, that one I was drawing just this morning?

Why did I pick such a crappy setting for this story? There's so much garbage floating around.

Also; LCD colours BURN LIKE HELL FIRE. I matched my CRT to match my printer, but I guess I didn't accurately match up my LCD to my CRT-- tried the best I could.

I need to go to bed.

12:47

Annie

Are You Ready For This?

Secret: I'm not.

Ever since I started drawing way back iiiin... when I was little, I always wanted to make a comic.

I never did. Because it was too much work, and I'm as lazy as a pile of fish bones. However, the other day, I came across an old sketchbook of mine with a few drawn pages in it. I thought, "You know, I should really try that again." and so I bought another mini sketchbook, plastered a piece of tape on it, scribbled "Rise" on it in marker, and- booted up my PC and started typing.

I never liked the idea of planning things, but at the same time I never liked the idea of just diving in and going at it. Doing things without thinking is usually my downfall, so I kept putting it off. Until yesterday; where I wrote out ten pages worth of... well, pages. I scribbled out some page layouts- and I tried actually drawing it. On full sized paper. I decided my lazy-man's method of "smaller sketchbook" wasn't going to cut it. After drawing, I actually sucked it up and inked. After that, I decided, "Why the hell not-" and kept barreling right on through till I finished painting it.

Will this be a consistent thing? Ha, when am I ever consistent? But, I'm pleased with myself, as this is probably the furthest I've ever gotten. I've had scribbles, I've had... more scribbles, and I've had the beginnings of novels- but never a full, inked and coloured page.

Kudos to me.

The only think I'm not too keen of- when it comes to comics, is that it also requires a huge amount of dedication. Not that they aren't my children, and I don't love them to death- but there are other things that matter to me, and I don't want to brush them off because of one project. I write, I draw random things- I hang out with friends- it's all in good fun, yeah?

Not to mention I'm very self conscious with my artwork, especially when people I know are doing the same thing and all I can ever think about is how awful I've done or.. or... etc.

Ah, right, page- This is the introduction to Rise. A story of a girl and her brother/guardian. I haven't really decided on a style yet- or anything, really, but, what ever, I figured it was time to try doing something.

11:44

Annie

I'm Starting to Really Hate Deviantart

You can be an amazing artist and not be able to earn a penny because you don't draw anime or fan art.

Decided to post this in my post-DA search rage.

I like my character Verden a lot. I didn't do so well in drawing him this time around, I sort of made him look very young- but that's alright, I suppose.

Verden's old. He's been a vampire for over three millenia, and understandably, has forgotten most things that once defined his life. One of those main things being his family; at one point, he had a wife, and he had children. Now, several thousand years later, all he remembers is that he once had such a thing. For Verden, it's like trying to remember exactly what you did on the Thursday of February 10th two years ago. Like remembering that time when you were two, and had a Jacobs ladder.

I wouldn't go so far as to say he's lonely, but he's tired. He knows that he's going to live forever, and he's accepted the fact that no one will be able to follow him into eternity. He doesn't really get attached to people anymore, as it's a difficult thing to do when you know they're going to die in what, to him, is a very short amount of time. He's recluse and quiet.

Verden is Suka's physician in my story. His bad eye sight and bad hip really don't make any sense for a vampire to have; but I like to think that just because a person is turned, doesn't mean they're suddenly perfect beings. Verden makes mistakes, and to be technical, he's senile, and well aware of it. He jokes about the dust and cobwebs in his brain. He can't see without his glasses, and can't walk without a cane. It doesn't cause him pain anymore, because he doesn't feel it, but remaining upright can be a little difficult at times. Without the cane, I mean.

Wee, original art from an original artist!

1:26

Annie

Rape Isn't Cool, People.

Oh look, I finished painting it!

Boy am I sleepy.

I had to lay down the flats differently this time around. Stacy inked the picture, so I had to try to work within lines that weren't mine; and that's fine for Sherry, as most of my lines close and come into closed shapes; But both Stacy and Neilizza's styles had a lot of open lines, so I couldn't scan in the image and bucket it like I normally do. I had to brush in all the flats the long way. After that, I was trying to figure out the shortest way possible to paint this thing, because I didn't feel like spending a monumental amount of time on it. So, I selected the flats, made a new layer, painted it a dark purple, and used a soft eraser at low opacity to life out the lights.

I like the way it turned out; Thar you go, guys, I finished.

Following this encounter, I drew a picture where Verden came in to save poor Sherry from the cannibal, and Abby was all victorious with my OC. Well, Neilizza wasn't too pleased with the fact that Paine got smashed across the face with a fire poker, so she swore her revenge.

Her revenge was quite horrible, and I didn't know how to react to it.

I would like to set the record straight; Yes, Sherry has the body of a fully developed sixteen year old male (his legs still have to grow out) and yes, he speaks coherent English and is relatively intelligent- but Sherry was only born two years ago, and he was hatched from an egg. The way people work, or the biology involved in certain matters, are above and beyond his comprehension.

Also, regardless of whether or not he is a male; rape is rape, and painful and not enjoyable.

Way to break my character, guys. I don't think he'll recover.

Oh look. It's Sherry. Emotionally scarred and not recovering.
Paine is in the bottom corner there, devouring my vampires arm.

Sherry and Verden don't exist in the same world; I used them together in an RP once, and Verden cared quite a bit for Sherry, who didn't have any family of his own. This picture is the first thing that popped into my head after Neilizza's horrible actions.

By the way, Chelsea? Way to drop the ball. You're not allowed near Sherlock anymore.

After an entire lunch break of nothing but pure horror, I decided it was time to rescue Sherlock and give him a break.

So I drew him with Ninja, as he winds up helping her overthrow her fascist government and starting an era of peace for Rise.

I have a hard time drawing Ninja as a displeased person. Her younger self has such a happy disposition, it almost hurts to make her angry.

After everything that happened though, one can hardly blame her.

She's in her twenties in this picture, a much more mature and sensible girl. She knows what risk is now, and weighs her decisions more carefully.

Finally, to close everything off, a personal piece that is not related to Sherlock. Not that I don't love Sherry, but I was starting to miss some of my other characters in the light of all the attention he's been getting.

I drew Suka and Alan! Inspired mostly by this song performed by Gene Kelly in the movie "The Pirate". It inspired me to pull out Alan and work on him some more, as I'm still not completely certain of who he is or what he's like.

Suka doesn't know how to dance. Theoretically, neither should Alan, not having human legs, but let's just pretend he knows what he's doing.

Lot's of playing around with brushes on this one; I know, it's a real mess, isn't it? But it was a lot of fun, so I'm not complaining.

11:28

Annie

I Forgot About a Title

Today on break, after I finished my left over homework, I asked someone to give me a character to draw my character with.

Instead, Neilizza suggested we try a collab. I thought this sounded like, fun, so I agreed and asked what we should draw? Neilizza suggested one of Stacy's characters and one of hers, each trying to pull Sherry a separate way.

Poor Sherry, he's so horribly bashful around girls, I thought this would be fun! I drew my Sherry, and handed off the paper to Neilizza, who drew her character Paine on the right.

There's a couple problems here; The first being that she snapped his arm. The second being that she's a cannibal, and is willing to rip Sherry's arm off instead of giving up her dinner.

Ack!!

To the left is Stacy's character Abby, who's about to be turned to stone if she doesn't close her eyes.

This is me, forgetting the fact that my character has this unwanted hobby of making garden statues. Oh well, it's cute to draw his eyes.

Stacy inked this picture again; Because I didn't want to.

I started arguing with Neilizza on ways to spare my baby from being eaten; at first I threatened to have Ainmire come in and slice her arms off with his sword (As Ain is typically the one who comes to Sherry's rescue) but, Neilizza insisted Paine would win in an all out brawl. I gave up this fight, because Ainmire's never been very capable of fighting girls. As much as I think he could win in an all out fight, he's got this honour thing that gets in his way.

So instead, I promised to sick Verden on her!

I love Verden very much. He's a very quiet, calm old man, and doesn't typically resort to violence. He believes in diplomatic resolution to issues, and once surrendered himself to a mad scientist in order to spare his village. Poor doctor.

However, threaten the people Verden cares about, and you're asking for trouble. So I brought in Verden, and took out Paine with a nice fire poker to the face.

However, I've now left Sherry in the care of Abby- and I'm not entirely sure that's a much better fate.

Aw Sherry, you're so adorable. I'm sorry I gave you a girls name.

8:06

Annie

Oh Hi!

"I hoped after a few years it would get better. The nervousness. Being afraid and all that. They're my family, why should I be? But it didn't. I locked up- it had gotten way worse. As soon as I saw her, all I could remember was the sound of scales scraping across rock and their screams as I ran away. She looked at me for half a second before she'd grabbed my arm and pulled me off my feet. Where I hadn't really changed much since I hatched- Mel had grown a lot. And I mean a lot.

"You know that feeling you get, right before you think you're going to die? Yeah- I didn't just think I was going to die. I knew it. I was going to die, and Mel was going to be the one to kill me."

Another sketch; I haven't had the time to finish anything lately. Today started with me drawing pictures of Tina. And I was drawing Verden yesterday. And then today, I wanted to draw Sherry. I wasn't sure what I wanted to draw, but I knew I had to draw something as I was starting to drown in self pity; which isn't very cool. So, I cracked out one of my babies and started drawing to see what I would come up with.

And this is what I got!

I love Sherry very much, and I'm so sad he doesn't have much of a place to fit in, in my stories. I love him, and I love his two insane sisters. I like to draw gorgon's. They make me very happy! I was lurking DA for inspiration, and there were a lot of drawings of the children of a gorgon- and I gotta say, I'm very happy with my designs in comparison. Especially Sherry; he looks just like his father (I assume. His father is probably a pile of bones in his mothers nest). And his sisters look unique; which makes me smile.

I am so tired, I think I'm going to bed.

1:37

Annie

Stuck Behind A Table

Today was the last day of portfolio's. Some really amazing one's came in today, I was impressed.

I'm tired; I spent three days running around without sitting down, and I was doing the same today, and my manager was giving me a hard time and that, on top of everything going on in Orangeville, how much I miss my family, the monthly hemorrhage, lack of sleep- I couldn't handle it and I hid in a stairwell and cried; and then I got stuck behind a table for the rest of the day. So I drew pictures.

Lot's of pictures.

I'm going to really miss my teachers next year. Thurman rescued me some vegetarian pizza for lunch while I was in the bathroom trying to get rid of the red on my face, Enzo saved a seat for me at lunch, Michel caught me when I was upset and tried to cheer me up, DQ and Mario both stopped to ask if I was alright...

It was really an amazing way to spend the week, and I would, despite the disaster of a day I had before lunch, love to do so again next year.

However, I don't regret it being over, as I am exhausted beyond belief and look forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

Yeeeeah, sleepin' in. Fun times.

5:30

Annie

Hustle Bustle

I was tired of having my anime commission head my blog.

I haven't really stopped moving for the past couple of days; I got hired to work on portfolio's this year, so I've been getting up early and headed to Sheridan every day to run portfolio's back and forth between teachers.

It's pretty awesome, I feel like I'm the one dishing out homework to teachers- but I don't really get the chance to sit down. I worked on this doodle on and off throughout the day, whenever I got more than ten seconds to be on a chair and with some relative concentration.

Kit and Sherry! I think Sherry's adorable, and I like pairing him up with other characters. I think he winds up with Ninja, but it's going to take a very long time, for the both of them (longer for Ninja) to mature to that state. I don't think my story will follow them that far, unfortunately. This here is a hypothetical situation from rift, where Sherry is conducting some repairs, and Kit is.. visiting. Derp smile is derp.

Sherlock has a massive crush on Kit; but she's ten years older than he is. Also, I drew Kit in her entirety and hid her behind a gigantic computer component.

I had a really good day today. I'm trying to be a more positive person; I'm exhausted and sleepy, but I enjoyed every moment of my day. This is a good job; it's fun and enjoyable, I get to spend the day with my teachers, see what comes in, learn a few interesting things, meet teachers of future years.. it's good times. Positives are easy when nothings the problem though; let's see how I do when things get rough again.

9:24

Annie