Crossposting

A tree with a star on top.

Still so slow. Mellow Terra is Mellow.

I am getting better, but it's slow and I'm spending most of my energy at work.
Anyway, for warm-up, I drew an Arbyfish and a random Terra.
After "inking" Terra I realized I wasn't likely to draw anything better today. So I cropped rest of it away.

Independence day

In Finland. 

I've been getting hooked on a manga called 'Bakuman'. Grows, like fungus. Still, reminds me of the huge bulk of manga bought from Japan sitting on my bookshelves. Needs to read.

I've been thinking of drawing a more traditional strip-style comic, to get back to comics, and to dump some of the story snippets and ideas whirling in my brain. 

Workin' on Something.

A... 'piece', it might be called.
Might finish later today. Peek, for now.
I see some problems already, I'll probably fix those. Just doing this to get back in shape, really.

*update*: No time to finish this today, ended up fiddling with the laptop. :/

Something after

Has some lines I like. It's better than nothing....

Air Guitar World Championship

Performance Art. Woot.

I shall need to be more verbose. Or more graphic, as it may be. 

30 minutes

You know, one of the reasons the amount of drawing I do drops significantly from time to time, is that I feel guilty about drawing instead of studying or working or exercising, cleaning, or doing anything non-hobby. Consequently, the impulse to draw evetually brings out a wave of guilt every time it comes... and then, there you are.
I have now assigned myself 3 hours per week for drawing and NETTG work.

3 Hours, not much.

My best result, getting used to it, is for last week, at 115 minutes. Still 65 minutes short. Interesting.

*edit*
This was on the other side. It's not bad, so extra service!



I drew this after re-reading some Ranma volumes, can you tell?

Blargh // no, just Blargh. // Triple-blargh

Things like composition and proportions, and the general whooshiness of images I do much better on pen and paper. However, the editability of digital work is also a delight.

It doesn't look that horrible at a distance. Click closer at your own risk. T_T
---
Hm. OpenCanvas was still running.


On a different note, I need to draw SIMPLER. Simplify, simplify, simplify!
I have some pen-on-paper drawings there, but, it's not a scanning kind of day, so nyah, I guess. Basically there's some junk and one decent Terra, so you're not missing much.

Something in 15 minutes // in 20 minutes

Now which parts should be black, which grey and which white? XD

*edit*


More lineart-like stuff.  Couldn't be bothered to even crop this one, I guess.  There's something wrong with the twist, but, meh. This pose has just a bit too much wushu in it, I think, too...

More practice, Tablet, Paint.NET

Paint.net...

Well, it's much better than Paint, definitely. Still, it's no Photoshop, or Paint Shop, or Opencanvas.

Art practice

From the back of a Cosmode magazine,
"Baby, The Stars Shine Bright" brand, line "Alice and the Pirates", I think? I probably walked right past one of their stores in Harajuku at some point.

Did this one fast, so it's not accurate or proportionate or anything. Hm.

About Tetris...

I don't speak much of game development here, but recently, I learned JavaScript ( which is kinda awesome, really, ) since one job I applied for required knowing it --- not sure if I got the job, or even if I'm taking it, but --- nevertheless, javascript: Fun, easy, fast to do stuff with.

So, I wrote a Tetris game with it. It's a classic style tetris, without gravity-based chain reactions. Nothing fancy. It stores the latest highscore on your machine as a cookie, too.

I really liked working on the block rotation and collision algorithms. Fun stuff.

I'm never drawing that armor again.

Which is a shame, since it's kinda cool.

Lineart, essentially. Some shading or color would be nice. Blame this one on the new Iron Man movie, or something.

But! Let me geek out for a moment about the fact that the university's scanning room has, not just an Epson A3 flatbed scanner, which I SERIOUSLY should abuse more. Epson does, like, the best scanners. But that's not all. There's also apparently a freakin' light table here! Also, the machines here have actual 16:9 aspect monitors! This is very noticeable as most monitors are, in fact, 15:9 or 14:9 or something silly like that. ( I probably should check the exact number. )
*edit* 16:10. That was it.

The art: I'm not entirely happy 'bout the face, looks kinda wide or something -- and I seem to draw really huge necks for some reason. Oh well. There's also no shading nor camo pattern, which would help and... eh. Take it as it is. Or don't.

I am sorry 'bout the lack of updates.

This blog was created as an outlet for my art, since online communities are, in fact, one of the big motivators for me. Which is a fancy way of saying "I like attention," but skips the fact I'm embarrassed by the fact.

In any case, there are some other things which motivate me - stories put images into my head, and sometimes certain concepts need drawing. However, I haven't had that much of an urge to draw lately ( which is a shame, as I've finally gotten semi-decent with it, ) and currently I don't have a monitor ( nor a display adapter -- IE, a graphics card, ) nor a job to get money to buy ones.

However that's not exactly the key problem - I could get a semi-decent CRT tube cheap or free if I wanted to, and there are some GFX cards I could also get. However, I've found myself doing a bunch of other things that need doing, a lot more since my monitor went *zzzap.*

So, I'm currently doing things like coding, reading science texts and trying to get a job, as well as figuring out of how to graduate, instead of being sucked in by my own computer's access -- there seems to be a difference in attitude between using my own computer and using other computers.

As a downside, I feel quite awkward doing graphics stuff on other computers.

As for blogging... I don't write for the sake of writing. I'm not a writer, like some people, and I do have a rant-about-things blog... which is in Finnish, sorry.

I have been thinking of starting yet another blog focusing on certain other interesting things, but I'm not sure if I will.

I do still intend to draw - I even intend to complete NETTG:TEY, in fact. Maybe I shall write about that later.

4e Dragon

I wanted a nice graphic on a web page I needed to do for school, and... well, that's about it.

I cheat shamelessly there.

Hmm. DrCloud, BTW.

Monitor broken // I draw comics with my brain!

University has scanners, though, so we'll see about art. Otherwise, being without monitor - and thus, computer / net access at home - has been a boon, distinctively. It has helped me notice certain things that I've managed not to think about lately.

I'm reading Shura no Mon in Japanese... I think I have all of it, bought it last February, back when I still had money. I'm up to volume 3 right now. There are 31 volumes, I'll need to check how many I have... I might very well have them all.

I actually found this one originally through Shura no Toki anime, which is a bit... it's not like you'd assume based on early first episode. It goes bad at around midway through, but the early episodes are quite tasty. Adaptation Decay perhaps?

I'll need to tinker with them ads, it seems. T_T;

Okay, Among The Chosen, what now?

Doin' the DnD thing again... or something.

Mm... Ghost Crusader 12, I think? Pens are fun, if messy.

Pun-Pun / Oh, yeah. How about no?

So, I tried doing this in CGI after initial sketching. 'twas horrible. 

Dunno, maybe I'm just rusty concerning CGI.  Anyway, PP on a day he decides Winged + Multiheaded + Floating Head is a nice combo.

This isn't the post you're looking for

Move along.

So I did a silly test

So, according to the test

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Bard/Sorcerer (2nd/1st Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-14

Dexterity-11

Constitution-14

Intelligence-13

Wisdom-10

Charisma-14


Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.


Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.


Primary Class:
Bards often serve as negotiators, messengers, scouts, and spies. They love to accompany heroes (and villains) to witness heroic (or villainous) deeds firsthand, since a bard who can tell a story from personal experience earns renown among his fellows. A bard casts arcane spells without any advance preparation, much like a sorcerer. Bards also share some specialized skills with rogues, and their knowledge of item lore is nearly unmatched. A high Charisma score allows a bard to cast high-level spells.


Secondary Class:
Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.


Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

...Hm. Well, I certainly don't completely disagree. Looks unoptimized, though. :/

Opera no longer has any ads // Something

And no-one told me this?

Well, I immediately switched to Opera. It's probably the "best" browser anyway, although I haven't tried Kazehakase. 

Had a marathon DnD session yesterday/last night. Shouldn't do that. Well, in any case, it was Epic. Heh.
...Sorry, an inside joke. But, as you can see, I'm not running on full capacity right now. 

About the drawing: Random bug, although it seems my faces don't have much variance just yet - I've drawn a similar bugface before. The badly-drawn girl below was included since I actually want to try something CGI, and it was good enough for that purpose. It's a double-hash lostnumber, since I'm at a different machine and I have no idea if I have any lostnumbers on my primary box.

*edit* This isn't what I had in mind--- still, it's good to dip my toes in the water every now and then. in any case, there will be a costume. Nice fingers, 
mostly.  I liked the ears, but this most likely isn't the final pose.

I'm currently still quite excited considering game developement stuff. I shall be coding in the future. Also modelling, maybe playing with sound... and so on and forth.

I'm also twiddling with Zenwalk on a 128M RAM Compaq Presario 1700 laptop - it's a 700mhz Celeron coppermine. I've also switched from XFCE to... well, I'm twiddling between Fluxbox and IceWM. Switching to Opera also helped save a few megs of RAM. There's also Dillo there, but it's lack of CSS is enough to make me not use it. I'm also looking if Xserver is smaller than full X.

I'm doing this for fun and learning purposes - if I wanted minimum RAM footprint I'd just start with DSL-N and build up from there, probably. Of course, DSL-N isn't a terribly mature distro yet... well, maybe Puppy Linux...

Still, if anyone wants to send me some RAM for that old piece of junk, drop me a note, okay? :D

Something is Gainax Fanart

It's Nono from Gunbuster 2!
Or rather, it's a drawing eyeballed from a photo of a cosplayer in a booklet which came in a recent Cosmode magazine. In any case, it was done with a ballpoint pen, so... not bad. My eye's pretty decent with 2d shapes, at least, these days. Still, a somewhat pointless exercise.

I just wanted to post something. Plus, more views equals pizza. Or something.

In any case, I'll probably do more ballpoint pen stuff, as well as some Wacom stuff soon. I'll need to make another Japan post one of these days, but in the mean time, check out Heikki's Scrapbook, for his reports on the trip. ( link in the sidebar on the right side. )

I've been learning new things, but I don't have much to say about that, yet.

GDM should probably switch to GTGE, JMonkey, or maybe LWJGL ( my current favourite. )

There are so many game engines these days, that if one intends to do something, optimally one would test each and everyone of them before committing to one. It might be interesting, fastprototyping some game for each engine, at a pace of, say, one game per week. At least you'd end up with lots of games.

Something Strikes Back!

I hadn't done a "something" folder for 2008 yet.

Random skintight doodleman. Almost feels like I've seen this before.

Superpowered individuals are in my mind relatively often. In this case, I guess I, first of all, didn't want to spend too much time, which meant a practically naked model, and second... I've been thinking of a certain game idea. Basically, an immersive superpower game, where you start as an effectively a normal human, and start gaining abilities --- and in the end you can leave the planet under your own power, and can do all sorts of DBZ-like things. It'd be interesting, in a sand box type sense.

Trip to Japan #2: Resting, finally

Instant noodles, kappuramen, nomnom.

Our most generous hostess didn't want me uploading photos of her half-awake in her pajamas for some reason. I guess I'm respecting her wishes on that matter. *sigh*

In any case, we actually managed to use the subway to get to Naka-Meguro, and from there we took a taxi cab, who dropped us to the address we were given. It took a bit of walking around, but we eventually found the... I guess Maison would be an appropriate expression, actually.

Anyway, I do have a picture of the place from outside, but it took me almost two weeks before I remembered to take it.
There's where the three of us slept. The Air conditioner device pushed hot air down from the ceiling. It ALMOST reached the ground level, which is to say "not quite." In other words, it had to be on quite high to make living bearable.

It was cold, I'm telling you.

Space-wise, it was surprisingly accomodating, although we mostly just slept there. Oh, and watched some TV and played Go, and occasionally Hanne, our hostess, cooked.

...I'm getting a weird vibe from the word "hostess", but maybe it's just me. Can't think of a more appropriate one right now, though...

This here be Heikki trying some traditional japanese Umeshu ( it's from the green bottle ), most likely. We've just been to Natural Lawson, which is one of those 24/7 convenience stores common in japan. I'm not entirely sure why this one was Natural Lawson, as most of them were simply called Lawson. In any case, this is the following day, so that would make it... 2nd of February, I think. The instant Curry there is the same brand Konata ate in one episode of Lucky Star, coincidentally.

In any case, what do you think 'bout the Umeshu, Heikki?
Oh, okay then.

Reminds me, we bought a Winnie plushie from Finland. In the mean time, Hanne had gone nuts 'bout the Evil Kitty.

...
In any case, that day we visited the Finnish Embassy, I think... Lots of walking was in store for us.

This is from Yutenji. I was struck by how NARROW every street was there. It felt somewhat dangerous, even, what with cars and such. Japanese people have incredible parking skills -- on the other hand, almost every car had some scratches in them.

Another were the spiderwebs --- Er, the wires hanging over streets.

I mean, it definitely makes me think of some sort of a huge Technoarachnid, but I guess it's handy if you need to rewire something. In Finland most wires are underground these days.
Mm... I guess that may be the case in Japan, too --- but then, how much wire can there be?

In any case, my next photos are from the park in, er... Hiro-o, I think. And there's a bunch of those, so they shall get another post.

Ben bribed me / Something

It's not much, but... it's not much. Well, I'm sort of happy 'bout the hands, I guess.

On other note, I got the permission to put up pictures of people, as long as they're not bad pictures. How ambivalent.

Well, it's better to apologize than it's to ask for permission, right? Update soon, then, I think...
Oh, and, the Forums went *poof*, it seems. Mmohdear....

All roads lead to Yokohama.

Okay, so... Trip to Japan, telling people stuff, and so on! Left on the last day of January, Arrived the first of February. I haven't ever really travelled much, but a friend of mine, who suggested the trip, has been to Nepal and northern China, so we're all good, yes?

That's him, in plane. Nobody told me, you weren't allowed to take pictures in a plane. In any case, Finnair has direct flights to Japan from Helsinki-Vantaa international Airport. Next Stop: Chubu airport.
Ahh, the joys of learning to use local Public Transportation - on the train from Chubu to Nagoya, in First class....

Which we didn't have tickets for, as we eventually figured out thanks to the friendly Mr. Conductor. Oh well, off to the sardins-in-a-can class cars. It wasn't crowded, really. Afterwards, we were in Nagoya, waiting for a bus, by the Yuri fountain.
We waited for two hours, listening to the "Pikku pikku Kaamera" chime from across the street. What's that there, though?


Oh, look! Real live japanese schoolkids, on a class trip, even! How curious--- Wait, what's that?

I has been spotted! Oh noes!

Heh, there was mutual laughing afterwards.

Anyway, we got on a bus, which was kind of small. Buses in Japan are... not so good. Not much worse than here, really, but a bit smaller perhaps?

In any case - I guess this comes as no surprise to most city people, but I never realized Finland only really has one city, and that one's not very large, either. There are some city-elements in most Finnish cities, but they just lack the population. Where are all the forests?
I also didn't realize it was okay to build roads on top of concrete pillars which go over other concrete pillars which just may go over a shopping street down below...

Oh, and these people don't really bother hiding wires from the view. In Finland most wiring is hidden from sight. In Japan, it's like a spider web between buildings.

A funny story: As Heikki's an experienced traveller, we - that is, my mother was being comforted by the fact he was with me, so we'd be safe and get where we're supposed to be, in time.


Surely you can trust that face, 'tis a honest face. Even if he found Zoolander to be a very funny film. I haven't seen it myself, though.

That reminds me, there were instances where we were going "Dude!" "Sweet!" a whole lot, but that's a different movie and a different story. In any case, we were on our way to Tokyo, and he told me we were going to the Shinjuku station or something.... We had arranged a meeting with the person whose place we were crashing in for our stay in Tokyo. ( I'll need to get her permission to use the photos, btw. )

Nooo problem... If he's looking like death warmed over, it's just because he'd only slept for like four hours in the last thirty-six or so. I tried explaining my theory of "While your eyes are closed, your optic nerves are resting", but that didn't take --- yet.

We weren't supposed to drop off at "Tokyo station", right? I mean, there was no proper bus stop or anything, right?
The driver -- the bus is circling around. We could ask, but that wouldn't be Proper. Surely, there's a proper station here in Tokyo, right?

"Next Stop, Yokohama." SVOBU? Wot? But, but... Aand we're on some sort of a freeway. no hope of stopping now....

Oh well, cannot do much now. Let me see those directions, will you?
...
What's this, a map? "Bus stops here," "Tokyo Station"... What? Dude, you had a map! What do you mean you assumed it was for Nagoya? It says "Tokyo station" right there!

Oh , great. Yokohama's a different city, right? Great, so now we're going to Yokohama. Just great.


We had a Learning Experience. Level Ups, don'chaknow?

Well, fortunately in Yokohama, we were helped by a friendly local who'd been an exchange student, and spoke better English than we did. We got some more experience in using local public transportation, and we took a taxi cab from Shibuya, to see if the person waiting for us, still was. She wasn't so now we had to figure out a way to get to her apartment on our own...
But that's for later, okyes?

Dummies Guide for Japan - Tokyo

1. Got to the government building in Shinjuku. Get maps, check out the view from 45th floor.
2. Get good shoes. Use the subway, but do check first if places are within walking distance.
* Avoid the early morning rush!!
* Get a Pasmo card.
3. Go to the side alleys. Tokyo's a safe city, and many of the interesting shops are there
4. Gaijin Park
* Limited Express may get you to Yokohama.
5. A place to live in; A Guest House at around 2500 yen a night is the best you can get, probably.
6. Ask.
* Otherwise you may end up in Yokohama.
7. Akihabara, Kanda Bookstore Area; Avoid these for the sake of your wallet.
* For clothes, go to Harajuku or Shibuya. Cheap shoes.
* You'll probably find the best place to shop in within 100ft of your living quarters, one day before leaving Tokyo.
8. Hyakuen shops. Way too much useful stuff, too cheap.
9. Learn to say "I am not an American" in Japanese, if it applies.
10. Visit the Ghibli Museum. Make sure to make a full day of it, and start early, since it closes at 6 PM.
11. Stick to the left side. Except in Kyoto.

Nerima Wrecking Crew

Totally random title, which only has any relation to anything by the fact that I visited Nerima today. Very scenic, nice little town -- in comparison to, oh, Shibuya.

Akihabara is an evil, evil place.

( Must update this post later )

*edit* must still add pictures or something.

Still alive, still in Tokyo.

Svobu? It's not wrong...

...So, I'm currently staying in Tokyo, Meguro-ku, Naka-cho. I''m more or less culture-shocked, with very little net access. I'm taking a lot of pictures, will probably make some sort of a report out of those.

Until I get back to Finland, no art.

The title comes from what I've been saying a lot. Weirdness.

A weird hand thing

I promised two posts, didn't I?

Seven hours to wakeup. Um. Nervous much? Not consciously, no. Subconsciously... my neck and back muscles are really really tense.

Arts are doodle-riffic.

So. First a 6-hour train to Helsinki, then a 9-hour flight to Japan, then something like 4 hours to Tokyo. Oy. That's a lot of travelling.

If I have computer access, I shall post something somewhere, in some language.

Hopefully, I'll come back better than I left.

It's there, then it's gone / Death By Scanner

Um. Yay for floating heads? This scanner is okay, but it has the tendency to scan kinda light...

I couldn't draw hands for the life of me. ;_;

Priceless

Silly idea, so outdated etcetera.

I'm not a particularly good Dungeon Master, but I am quite up to date and I do have a keen understanding of the rules. Basically, I have a bachelor's degree on DMing. Possibly a master's degree.

Never-the-less, warts and all, I kind of do like the system. Still, I'd rather be playing.

In any case, a plot-device mage went *splat* a while ago, and AFAIK, his recovery tactic is contingent reincarnate.

Reincarnate is superior to other death recovery methods mainly due to the fact that

The magic of the spell creates an entirely new young adult body for the soul to inhabit from the natural elements at hand

Two days to Japan. Two more posts, then.

Blue Warrior Needs Food Badly

This image doesn't relate to Gauntlet in any way. I've only played the first one, really, on a C64.
Leaving soon... I have an intention to post every day 'til I leave, but I'm out of scannable material.

I is done with DnD almost.

Well, almost, anyway. That is, the big adventure is over, and I can now leave that particular campaign lie with good conscience. People got to level 23, and then they were eaten by big dinoes.

Medetashi, medetashi.

I have no idea what that means, but that's what popped out of my phrasebook. ( See: How Esas learn languages. )

In any case, today's drawing is new, and quite awful, but not so awful that I wouldn't post it. I think it looks like Terra Incognita, maybe.

Happy sad

Hmm. This is one of those I might have posted before. I like the nose.

Coming up with titles... is something I don't generally put much effort into. In this case, the ultimate source was this song. Not sure if it actually relates to the image.

Now, I'll need to draw some new stuff. I need at least a few days' worth. Cannot guarantee posting.

Well, not generally speaking, but specifically not during February. I'll try to let you know if I'm alive.

New junk, old junk?

Sadly, this is probably the most refined drawing I've done in the last four months, with exception of the one day before yesterday. When you're in a slump, you're in a slump, I guess.

Reminds me of Gouki of Street Fighter fame, kind of.

I scanned some things, but I'm not entirely sure if I've posted them before. I'm relatively sure I haven't....

Floating head a day keeps something something

This is just way cool. It's a very sketchy doodle-y thingy - and it's a floating head even, but it just... it has somethign that doesn't go right for my drawings very often.

Looks kinda like Signum from Nanoha.

So NOW I get my thing back.

Terra, a ***toss, assassin perhaps. A Dark Te**ar. Incriminating scene.

I've been watching sufficiently Hayate no Gotoku.

I really was hibernating, maybe.

Or just the panic is unlocking something. I'm definitely having some trouble sleeping.