fredart : blogbits

I actually did this before the other copic trial i put up the other day, but when looking at it, i felt it was kinda neat, even in its unfinished state, so i posted it. Obviously backgrounds present more of a challenge when using markers due to the fact that there is more surface area and the fact that pen strokes want to be continuous BEHIND the characters (easy to do on the computer, not so easy on a 2 dimensional peice of paper. Anyways, i always wanted to color out pings hair, so it was kinda fun to do.

- pirotunes: Moss - A Twist In My Tourniquet -

I figured something out in recent years… i really do not like coloring in photoshop or on the computer. It just feels unnatural to me, as if coloring using a tablet is too mechanical for my rather unschooled and non-technical way of working. Months and months ago, Sarah got me a set of Copic Markers, 72 markers set A. I’ve done a little dabbling with Copics, but never really sat down and tried to color something. Mainly because i suck at inking, and Copic markers smear pencil lines. Last night i had an epiphany - what if i were to print right onto the marker paper with the laser printer? I was sure that the copics wouldn’t dissolve the toner.

Sure enough, i was right (and would have realized this sooner if i had done some, like, research Anyways, the end result was that i experimented a lot last night and really do find that there is a lot of potential here - coloring with copics is much closer to the way i naturally create than using photoshop is. Sure, i’m limited by colors, no undo button, etc. But i think there is some potential here as i dive in and work with it. The biggest plus - i actually enjoyed doing it, and i feel comfortable with the darn things.

Thats probably the most important thing when it comes to art, being comfortable with your tools. For this drawing, i went a step further and actually did ink it, and colored several versions which i printed on laser printer. It’s not too bad - lots of room for improvement (and for tweaking colors that i scan in) but if it gets me working with color, thats a good thing.

pirotunes: Bouken Desho Desho? from “Bouken Desho Desho?” by Hirano Aya

There i go again, ignoring my blogs and rants as i dive into other things. I spent most of yesterday working on chapter 8 development. Putting together a megatokyo rant right now (part of which actually started here, but i figure i might as well rant about writing megatokyo on the megatokyo site As a whole, Chapter 7 was ok, but i’m really hoping to make chapter 8

People are finding MT volume 4 in the wild, and so far the response seems to be good - the books really should be in stores in ernest next week, and i need to get my promotional butt together and start pimping those books Our order is in, but it will still be a week or so before we get them in the MegaGear store.

Yesterday i went into Comp USA and looked at some of the headphones they had there, and i was sorely tempted to pick up a pair of Shure E3c headphones, but… i just couldn’t bring myself to drop $180 on headphones, not right now. Also, there is the issue that (from what i read) you really don’t hear the difference in these better headphones until you get to the E4c, which start to push $300… I dont know, i just can’t justify paying big money for headphones that i usually only wear in one ear most of the time. I figure i’ll just make due with my Sony Fontopias for now.

pirotunes: 回想録 from the album “AIR ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK (DISC-1)” by Key Sounds Label

Well, i have to say i’m a little disappointed in my Grado SR60 headphones. Yesterday the left ear piece started to buzz, and i think they are shot. I don’t think i can really blame the Grados - my little devilspawnkitty Hime has chewed the cord on it numerous times, and i think she must have chewed one bite too many. The buzz is probably because of that and not any defect or breakage in the mechanics of the left can. Still, it kinda sucks. I guess it’s better she ruin a $70 set of cans than a $200 set of cans.

I’ve blogged here about headphones a number of times - silly, really, you’d think i obsess about them, when the truth is i would be most happy with a set that i could just use and not think about. Having a pair of cans like the Grados was nice (Sarah couldn’t stop laughing when i first put them on, they are really old school looking), but i’m starting to think that i want to go with something a little more portable again. Ever since i lost my ipod headphones (the little crappy earbuds they come with them) i really haven’t had a decent portable pair… at least one i use. Oh, and for the record, my Ipod is and has been completely dead for 8 months. I stopped caring about it a long time ago, and when Sarah was poking around finding out which of the new ones i might like, i discouraged her from getting one from me. I’m disgusted with them, and will never own another one).

If you remember, back before i bought the Grados i did get a pair of Sony MDR- EX71. They actually sound pretty nice, but the are the most god awful awkward and uncomfortable pair of earbuds i’ve ever used. Not the earpiece itself, but the cord - its an asymmetric cord and its so short its only good if you keep an I-pod in your pocket. It comes with an extension cord, but the end result is that you have the weight of the plug and extension cord weighing on the left ear. Take your headphones off and try to just drape them over your neck, and in 5 minutes they are on the floor. I’m using them again because its all i have, now that the Grados are borked. This has got me thinking that maybe i should reconsider a decent pair of earbuds, like a pair of Etymotic Research buds, Ultimate Ears buds, or a pair of nice Sure buds.

I’ve been avoiding these kinds of headphones because i really like to hear what is going on around me as i listen to music, but maybe i’m overlooking the fact that these could still work quite well for me. If any of you have any experience with any of these or any recommendations, i’d be glad to hear them.

I’ve REALLY got to sit down and re-organize my music. 50% of my music collection is not even listed in my itunes right now, and i’ve just been listening to some of the stuff i’ve grabbed and stuck back into the playlist (if you remember, my playlist got borked last month and i’ve been without any music organization since) I guess i just need to take the time to do it.

pirotunes: “Chukhung” from “Substrata” by Biosphere

I recently read about the fact that AnimeEigo was loosing the license to Kimagure Orange Road… boy, that just made me feel really sad. It goes back right to what snagged me into anime in the first place (it was an add for KOR at the tail end of a Urusai Yatsura tape from a rental store). I still have all my old VHS tapes for the KOR OAVs and stuff. I never did actually acquire the DVDs of the TV series, and its been on my ‘i really need to get that’ list for a while. It’s a shame that it took this news to motivate me into looking into getting the series on DVD finally.

What surprised me was that they have all of these DVDs on sale for some amazingly low prices. If you ever considered checking out KOR, pick up the OAV DVDs - at 6 bucks per DVD, you cant beat it. I have to admit to feeling somewhat guilty at buying the set at this kind of low price… i went ahead and got all 12 of the TV series DVDs, both OAV DVDs and the Movie DVD. It’ll be sad to see what was once really one of the main staples of everyone’s anime collection now become unavailable, relegated to the background as ‘old school’. Same goes for the manga, which it is a shame may never see the light of day on these shorts. With so much crap that has been brought over, it saddens me that they couldnt bring KOR over as well. Sure the art of the first 2 books is crap, but its still a good story. Once again, so many manga acquisitions seem to rely heavily on how it looks over how it reads. Americans are shallow, remember? If its not pretty we wont read it because we’re like that -_-. (grumble)

I guess it kinda bookends an era for me - first discovering anime through an ad for KOR on a VHS tape from a rental store, to aquiring the VHS tapes of the OAV, to getting online and finding out that there had been a whole TV series of the anime, to going to my first Japanese bookstore and buying the hard bound tankubons of the series, to getting into fansubs, to the KOR translation mailing list, to my first real CG artwork of Manami an Kasumi for the KOR Mailing list T-shirt, which got me to buy my first Wacom tablet, to all the other things that has led to me doing what i do today… to now, here at the end of Animeigo’s run with KOR to buying the whole set on DVD at the end of it all… can’t really describe how it makes me feel, personally.

Oh, and i just found out about another bit of something from the past that has past away. One of the Hildebrant brothers has died - Tim Hildebrant. If you are familiar with fantasy art at all, you will already know about the work of the Hildebrant brothers. I still have a very old Toliken calendar that inspired me when i was in high school. People like TIm Hildebrant brought to life a lot of the fantasy in people’s lives, and its a very sad loss.

I guess i’m just going into today feeling more thoughtful that usual.

pirotunes: Steve Roach - Quiet Sun

Well, i honestly think i got off pretty easy with respect to getting my wisdom teeth pulled out. Obviously the day of procedure i was totally useless (man, those medications really mess you up) and the rest of the week wasn’t too bad. I’ve been trying to be very careful with it and honestly there has been little pain, so i don’t think it could have gone much better. I’d like to start eating more normally soon, you can only each so much mushy food

I apologize for dropping this blog here over the past few weeks… when things are clicking along smoothly i like blogging here. You can usually tell when things have gone to hell because this site falls silent It’s been an odd weed to be sure. The cats are doing ok - if you remember, last week one of them gave us a bit of a scare, but he’s doing ok now.

Hopefully i can get my act together this weekend and get back on track and finish this chapter off properly. In two weeks i’m looking at going on a week long book tour… some of it is still tentative, but i’ll have something difinitive on that for monday.

- pirotunes: Tuu - Exile -