tornadoes

i'm guessing by now everyone's aware of the mega tornadoes and storms that ripped through the deep south and midwest wednesday, causing lots of damage and many deaths. for those who don't know, i'm originally from Alabama, specifically the Concord area, which was very hard hit. fortunately all my friends and family that i've been able to contact so far have all been safe and no one's injured, but my parents have lost their house, at least until they can assess the damage.

this has hit me hard in the obvious ways, but also tears at my heart to see images on the news of places i grew up, places i recognize, that basically got wiped away. i mean, look at these photos: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/04/storms-tornadoes-devastate-the-south/100055/ it's so surreal/heartbreaking.

if anyone feels compelled to help in this time of dire need, here's some places you can donate:

this news article includes links at the bottom with lots of different ways to help: http://abcnews.go.com/US/alabama-tornado-2011-storm-victims/story?id=13477481

a fund for donating items, if you live near Birmingham: http://www.birminghammommy.com/2011/04/birmingham-area-tornado-relief-donations.html

a fund specifically for Alabama: http://www.causes.com/causes/608753-alabama-tornado-relief

thanks for any and all help; people like my family really need/appreciate it. and to all the people in the affected areas who may have lost power, your homes, and even loved ones, my heart goes out to you.

wasted days

i recently watched Candy Man for the first time...actually, i remember renting it when i was a little kid, but i didn't understand what was going on in it and got bored and turned it off. so glad i gave it a second chance, i loved it.

wanna go for a ride?

i know i've been bad and not keeping up with the daily sketches. -_-;  work, blah, blah, tired, blah, working on website, blah, blah, blah. i have been sketching in my sketchbook more, but i'm just too damn lazy to use a scanner.

but...! good news is Dinogeddon is finally online!! :D i mean, it's already online, but, you know. it has its own little site now. ;)

one of my friends at work is an intuitive supposedly, and she read my cards the other day. i guess everything she said was pretty accurate. i need to work on some things. but she said i'm on "the right path," and pretty soon it'll start to pay off and good things will start coming my way. haha i hope so!

Smashing Pumpkins - "Zero" , YouTube

some kinda hate

daily sketch 5, Mind's Eye from my friend Nick Marino's webcomic Super Haters.

she's probably reacting to something stupid Destruct-O-Tron's said/done.

oh, also! i asked one of my fave artists, Kippery, to draw Ronnie and Rexxie when she was taking requests on her tumblr saturday night, and she totally did!! so now i can die happy, the end.

work all night on a drink of rum

Dr. Girlfriend from Venture Brothers

plus old sketch of Eve

Beetlejuice - Day-O (Banana Boat Song), YouTube

tripping balls

haha, oops, blew my daily sketch thing already. guess it's a mostly-daily-sketch thing now.

day 3, the Director from Pure Trance by Junko Mizuno.

swans

daily sketch, day 2. Unico!

this one was kind of a cop-out because it's such an easy character to draw, but i'm tired from work, and working out. -_- plus i really like Unico.

even though Unico is really sad. it even made me sad when i was a kid. i hated how Unico always had to leave his friends and get moved around by the West Wind so he wouldn't get killed.

also, Dame Darcy is probably one of my favorite artists now.

i so admire artists that have this certain kind of quality...it's hard for me to describe. like they focus so much less on stylistics and process are all about expression and conviction of a feeling or tone. does that make any sense? i don't know. i get so caught up in worrying if every little thing looks right, if my perspective is believable, if my composition is shit, that i often lose the joy of making art. i'm envious of people who don't seem to worry about any of that stuff at all, that seem to jot and scribble their ideas out with a passionate abandon, and it looks fucking amazing.

overtime

daily sketch, day one. ninja turtle.

not really sure why i chose TMNT...i never really drew them before, so i thought i'd give it a shot.

i don't usually like drawing fan art, so i think for my first few daily sketches i'll try doing that, get out of my comfort zone and whatnot. i also don't like coloring so i'm gonna try to color them all too, but quickly. so it'll probably look like shit, but maybe after a few it will help me get better at coloring faster, haha.

aching

page 5

maybe someday i'll get a proper website going, who knows. o_O

also check out this fan art from none other than Ross Campbell!

i really need to be drawing more. i was thinking of doing a daily sketch thing like i've seen a lot of other artists doing...would anybody be into that?

false prophet

right now i'm reading Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland. it's really helping me through a tough period. well, not really tough, but it's definitely making me see things in a new light and examine why i feel and act certain ways about making art or not making art. some parts seem like they were written directly to me, haha.

i need to draw in my sketchbook more.