&i know it seems like we're never coming back.

I've been in an incredibly sketchy mood as of late, so a blog entry seems... incredibly fitting. Before, I start though, I'd like to touch on three things that have bothered me MAJORLY as of late, and all of which are things my friends have said to me. The first, I remember distinctly, began with a conversation between my friend and I during art class. I was done with whatever project we were doing at the time, and I decided that, hey, maybe I should doodle for a little while, since nothing extra was assigned.

Can I just clear up, for those who think my art is just really bad realism, that I'm NOT AIMING FOR REALISM K? It's fun to have exaggerated features and limbs.

So anyways, my friend says to me, "Why do you draw those anime people? I hate them." Or something.

As much as I love said friend, and I'm not mentioning any names by any means, I got a little offended. One, not only did several people comment that my art has strayed far from anime and into a more cartoony semi-realism, but you don't just say something like that to someone. I'm like, afraid to draw around that person now in fear of making them say something else like that. Same person and I were having a discussion about our school art program and, since I might wanna have a double major in Literature and Art and a minor in Music, I said that I might have to transfer school simply because the school one of my friends goes to has a better program. And my friend says, "You'd want to transfer schools JUST for the art program?"

Well.
Yes. Since that's what I want to attempt to incorporate into the rest of my natural life. Yes.

The third thing was actually something from this morning and from a different friend, and all she asked was, "Do you ever draw real people?"
My question is, "Am I obligated to?"

I'm not sure if anyone else is bothered by stuff like that, but seriously, man. I doodle because I like to doodle, and I'm (usually) proud of my finished stuff. I really do not understand why in hell people who don't even want to do anything with art later on in their lives feel like it's necessary to criticize little things like that. And yes, I have drawn real people before, and it's hard, and I'm still working on it.

Fuck damn.

Hem.

WIP Halloween picture. Some witchy thing sitting on the edge of some cauldron, it's prolly gonna end up looking like crap anyways so I'm not even gonna talk about it.
After listening to the Decemberists (Mariner's Revenge Song), I felt like sketching something folky, and was in the mood to put Ria in different situations just because I wanted to. After much repetition, I came out with this piece of crap.Finished digital cover of my sketchbook, should do it in colored pencils on the real thing. Her claves are too long, thighs are too short, I see it, I know.

Now I'm in a crappy mood.

&all you ever wanted, was someone to tuly look up to you.

... and six feet under water, I do.

I'm not gonna lie, guys. I'm in such a slump right now, it's crazy. I'm tired, I have no time to do anything any more, I'm almost always falling asleep in random places, and I have work up the hiznay to get done & handed in on time so my teachers don't bust caps in my ass.

There really is a bit more than this, but my brain is registering 10:14PM as late, therefore I must go to bed before my body implodes on itself. Here, have a Ziegte!Ria!Mermaid and be happy with it. 'Causeuh, I don't have anything better to offer. There's like, 10 pages of pose practice, a bunch of Ria faces and some Rosie concepts, but nothing thrilling and OMGAMAZING to post up on here. Maybe when I get my school art projects done...

Ha, wait, those are lame too. A newsprint collage of a contour line drawing of my face and a still-life that I'm not looking towards whatsoever because my art teacher thinks she's all that and can't actually teach worth a damn half the time, because she's too concerned on keeping the four obnoxious girls in my class on track and makes us do three sketches for one project against our will.

Is it that hard to let us get away with just drawing a fucking sunflower in a barrell and a rose in a wicker vase?

Go listen to some Anberlin or Hush Sound and appease me.
Birthday countdown starts next week.

that's it. i'm getting a tablet.

So, as I said I would be, I am currently at Sarahphee's house. I tried on her awesomekickass 8x6 wacom, and I NEVER WANT TO GO BACK TO MOUSE DRAWING AGAIN. D:

Look how preeetttyyy. &&This is also a PS7 demo for Sarah because she only uses OpenCanvas. :'D <3>

Ahem.

Sketchflood to come. >3

ich weiss- opencanvas aber photoshop?

I saved the Lilith lineart separately so I could experiment a little in OpenCanvas. I didn't bother finishing this because I got frustrated. :'D

What I don't like about oC1.1:

• The interface is... too simple, I suppose. There aren't enough tools and modifications for those tools for me to get done what I need to get done.
  
• Everything is in broken English or in Japanese. ; ;
• There are no normal layers- just multiply, add, and subtract. I want my normal layers back. ; ;
• The brush cursor does not expand when you increase the brush size! D: It's nearly impossible to fill in lineart when you don't know how big your brush is. D<

What I like about oC1.1:

• I'll admit that it works a lot faster than PS7. >_>
  
• The colors auto-blend!
  
• I'm in love with the watercolor brush.
  

What I learned about oC1.1:

• The colors I use need to be closer together on the palette for them to blend better. That means a lot more in-betweeners for dramatic shading. Yikes. Lazy meter going off!

So, I mean, yeah. Otherwise, guys, guess what? I might just be attending my first ever anime con in two months! Located in Philadelphia, PA, TAKII (the asian kareoke idol invitational) is a free-admission culture type thing with hall cosplays and lots of fun-seeming music events. Tori and I are not dressing up for this one due to the date, but for the two later ones that she picked out, we just might (that is, if we're able to go). I'm definitely going to be Howl for one of the later ones because it requires not much except my mom's sewing skills and a rigorous workout schedule. I have dark enough hair to just need to cut and straighten. :'D

Another idea that we're discussing as I type this is the possibility of doing a pairing.

tori: mm, lawl, let's do one from ouran xD

leyla : ... YES.

tori: which one suits us though?

leey la: i could be kyouya, but who goes with him?

tori: tamaki ://

tori: not happening

leey la: LAWWWLLL


- a bit of pondering later -

leyla: mm, i think ouran is ruled out for pairings :'D

leyla: we could be L and light

tori: mmm. i'd look like michael jackson with black hair

tori: &light scares me

- more pondering here -

tori: AHA, what if we really diddo sasunaru?!

tori: xD

leyla: i'd need to paint a frown on my face

leyla: but we could do ridiculous dances

leyla: and make ourselves look like idiots!

tori: yesm xD

leyla: the tell me* would come in handy :'D

- ideas ideas -

leyla: if i ever dress up as sasuke, i will sing the real suga baby. you know that song?

tori: YES

Our brainstorming process is lovely, no? Anyways, yeah. >_> We're plotting to attack cons. If you live near enough and plan on attending these, do tell! I might try to spot you and give a glomp. : D

• TAKII in Philadelphia, PA
• Ani-Aikousha-Con in Rochester, NY
• Tekkoshocon 2009 in Greentree, PA
  

Perfect opportunity for people to stalk me. >_>;; Whoops.
So yes, those are the plans. I think if we continue going to cons, as I improve my art skills, I might get a table with Tori. ;3

*tell me: The Tell Me dance by Wonder Girls. You can find it here.
**the real suga baby: The Real Suga Baby is a song by Stephanie Beard that I have memorized. :'D You can find it here.

Also, you should see Naruto leaning like a cholo.

ich bin ... aw, fuck it. :'D

More Lilith fo you!
A chibi this time. :3 <3

This update is mainly to tell you that... Dad's going to -attempt- to fix my sound and scanner tomorrow. I might just have 30+ sketches for you!

And if he fixes it before I go to the post office, I can show you the letter I made for Harley*!

*Harley: A good friend of mine who moved away last month. She resides in Mulberry, FL right now. Her birthday was July 30th, but I only just now got enough money to express mail a CD and a letter to her. :'D

was ist das?!

I HAVE FULLY COLORED ART FTW. This is my new Damekko Dobutsu-based character Lilith for an RP that Tori and I started on Gaia. Give us a visit and ponder joining, if you will!

Otherwise, I feel very shy about my German having befriended an actual German native via the world of Flyff. xDD My Deutsch titles are unworthy, oh no! Silly me. And speaking of Flyff, if anyone plays, I have characters in the Clockworks, Lawolf, and Aibatt servers (I'm almost always in Aibatt- the Clockworks was an accident and I'm in Lawolf to play with Kitty). Look me up as...

Aibatt:
Leyley (38), Detoxx(30), or Mohfo(2)
Lawolf:
Technotronic (16)
Clockworks:
Leyley (5) (I think)

I might make art of my friend Tori, Deniz (the German native I mentioned earlier) and myself. We had a conversation about name meanings, and we're Grace, Ocean, and Night respectively. :'D Flyff brings people together!

Hem.
I still can't get my scanner to go. I might be in need of a new one, and I have my eyes on this new Visioneer OneTouch 7400. Better than my bulky 7600. D: So, yeah. That's my unfortunate experience with artwork. xDD If I get anything in, it'll be from Tori's house. She has a working scanner. ; ;

... Or when Dad gets un-mad at me, I can ask him to toy around and install a scanner driver. :3

That's my news!

&& Remember that Vlad doodle from months ago? I've decided to redraw it completely. : D

wo ist mein kunst? D:

Where, oh where is my art?
Why, there are 30 sketches right here on my desk! Over 30, actually, classified into "Chibi," "Old," "Workable," and "Concepts."
And as I'm importing the Backstreet Boys self-titled CD into my iTunes, I face a problem.

My scanner refuses to connect.
More on the issue later.

kommst du zum mein fahrstuhl? wollst du mir mich schlafen?

I can make perverted comments at my level of German! : D
My title reads, "Will you come to my elevator? Do you want to sleep with me?"
[/shot]

Anyways, I felt this was historical enough to document.
I am computer less as of July 4th, at 3:30AM. Luckily enough, I'm getting a new PC as soon as my Dad buys a new one for himself (yay hand-me-downs!). He ordered the thing today, and says the monitor should be in on Saturday, while the processor should be here on Monday. So... by the time I get internet set up, I should be on on late Monday, maybe Tuesday. :3 No promises.

Programs I get to (re)install!
- Ares
- iTunes
- PSCS2 (3?)
- AIM
- Windows Live Messenger (already installed?)
- Firefox
- Windows Media Player
- Real Player
- Quick Time
- ActiveX
- Shockwave
- Flash

ich kann ein bleistift nehmen nicht.

I haven't been able to draw anything in over a week.
I'm so deadbeat tired, it's not even funny.


But at least I finished my Drawing Day 2008 entry! I've been complimented on it a few times, so it means I'm progressing in the art world? : D Exciting, innit? But there's so much I wanna draw. ; ; So let's talk about what I wanna and/or have to draw, shall we? XD

• There's this song that I've been listening to nonstop for over a day, El Tango De Roxanne, and I keep thinking of a scene that will probably never happen in the RP between Jordyn and I, but it's interesting enough to think about it. Kinda like... Vlad's mental breakdown. I mean, he'll come back from a super!long absence thinking his wife is dead and with another woman, and then he'll get stuff thrown at him like the fact that he's the father of two, and that his wife is very much alive, very pissed off, and very ill with three months to live unless she starts taking her pills like a good girl. I can just see him plopping down on a couch and breaking down.
  
• Fuego is a great song too. It makes me wanna draw something rave-like of Alex, Andy, and Dan. 'Cause they don't get enough art love. Or maybe even Thatcher and Rosie. Or all five of them. Iduno, it could do for some cool pictures. : D
• Being the perverted youngin that I am, I kinda wanna draw something semi-sexy thanks to Supermassive Black Hole.
  
• Unintended (despite its shitty intro) calls for something sad and cute. D: I keep sounding like an obsessive dork, but I mean, it suits Vlad and Ria more than I'd like to go into. "You could be my unintended choice / to live my life extended, / You could be the one I'll always love." F'sho.
  

I'm gonna go OC with Jenna now. XD Sotired.

ich have viel arbeit.

I'm done doing title translations. Just 'cause it sounds cooler when I don't. 8D

Anyways, this is what's going to happen over the next two weeks or so, because it's the end of the year and I got stoof to do. ; ;
Tomorrow is probably my busiest day of them all, not only because it's Friday the 13th and I gotta cause some mischief, but because it's our 8th Grade Dance. Most teachers refer to it as the '8th Grade Party', but that sounds cheesy, so we just call it 'the dance'. I've got a dress, and a date and a half (half = my friend Courtney, who doesn't count as a datedate 'cause she's a girl), and a lot of stuff to do. x0 I might only be able to hop onto the PC for about an hour since, I gots school and a hair appointment at 1PM (which means I get to skip Gym!<3), then Kaylah and maybe Tom are coming over to help with Kaylah's outfit/makeup, and at 6:45 we're off to the dance. X3 <3 I'm going out to eat after it, so me being back before midnight = FAT CHANCE.
Hem.

Otherwise, Tuesday is my first exam, which is in Math. I'm ripping my hair out over that one, because it's Regents. I know I'll PASS, but it's never been given before, so... I gotta watch out and triple check my problems to make sure that I can at least scrape a 90. Hoping there's an upward curve. D: Then exams kick into full gear on Thursday, and the day of my Regents Biology exam, I get to go see Wicked live!<3 Sosososoexciiited. And my Dad's agreed to buy me Warped Tour tickets.
And I'm still looking for a job.

No art today, sorry kiddos. I gotta run to the mall to accessory shop with Mariah. XD <3

ich zeichne, was ich will.

Title translation: I draw what I want.
(I actually pulled that together on my own, and babelfish said it was accurate!)

The title sounds a bit more serious than the current issue I have is, but hey, if it lets me practice German before the exam... yeah. Anyways! Today was a bit of a weird day, because I can't find my writing notebook, but I carried my sketchbook around with me all day. I really don't like people looking through it because most of the sketches in there are shitty and unfinished, but most importantly there's story concept sketches and even some boobies. Most middle school students can't handle that, so I tend to keep my stuff to myself.
Today, though, I had three people actually look through my sketchbook. I got the first one away quick enough by saying that there was just really crappy stuff in there, but the second time was in tech and it was Karen that grabbed it. I'm generally very close to my personal items at all times, but Karen is Karen, and it was just her and Kristen around anyways, so... yeah! I didn't care, but I told them about the boobage about ten times. When they got kinda close, I flipped the page for them, but I think Kristen caught it and she got that... look on her face that's kinda like, "Oh, whoa, that's weird, I don't approve," expression that she gets sometimes. I about snapped but we were in the middle of a movie on the electric car, so.
Basically, I had my sketchbook raped.
And there's this one really bad doodle of Ria and Eries in a position that could look kinda funny at first glance unless you know that they're out to get each other. D: So I kinda like, don't like showing that to people. I really need artist friends at my school. ; ;

AHEM. EMO-AWAY.
Time for the actual art portion of this stuff. (:Here's the good portion of my Lily page. She's a strategic observer and skilled spearwoman, but enjoys gambling a little too much. She usually hitches rides to new places to escape debt and charms some helpless young man in letting her live with him. Surprisingly, she's never slept with any of them. She hasn't admitted to it, anyways.
Lily is from the same RP as Pierre and Pleefle. xD
And here's a colored, finalized Irvine doodle. :3 This is my useless succubus! Andyouknowwhat? I LOVE HER. >D BWAHAHAHA.

...
Hem. Anyways.
I'm gonna DDR and finish my homework now. <3 Gig tomorrow. x0 Wishmeluck, I'mma try a solo.