Behind again

Not that I was ever truly caught up...

So my Awesome Project is coming along fantastically.  Husband is my critique/editor and I'm always wary that he's biased, but he doesn't seem to be afraid to tell me if I've done something wrong or could just change the way its done a bit to make it better. Which is really nice actually ,it would feel so false if it was just "yeah its great its always great you're great" whenever I asked for opinion.

I expect my project to be ready by this weekend, especially because I have Friday off of job, so I can Work. This is the most fulfilling thing ever, even if no one ever looks at it, I'm super proud of what I've accomplished.

I also just finished creating my main villain for my comic, who should be appearing very soon. I love having all these ideas! Some days I get zero ideas and that sucks, but these few weeks off have really been nice for brain relaxation and idea perculation.

Woop

I have a project that I'm very Excited about that is coming to fruition at a nice pace.  I can't wait to talk about it for reals! But I don't want to show off a half done project though. So maybe I should just shut up about it.

Presently, I am watching Torchwood. It is crazy. I am on episode 4, and it is crazy.

I have nothing else really to blog about right now. Here, you can look at this gremlin thing I just drew:

BEDA #2

For lack of a better title...

Oops I forgot to make a post yesterday! Oh well, I''ll make 2 today I guess.

So what can I tell you about today? Hm. We went to Hot Nite in the City today, and saw a bunch of cool cars, then went to "Ribfest" and had some freaking delicious brisket sandwiches.

Hot Nite is kind of stupid.  For one thing, it stopped being at night like, 8 years ago. And for all the cool cars, it usually works out to the same kind of car with different paint jobs for blocks and blocks, with a couple gems mixed in. This year wasn't too bad, but some years its like every car is a Mustang or a Charger.

Holy snood they changed the blogger interface! I don't get it, its dumb right now and I hate it.

I feel like I'm talking to myself... I got some cool stuff happening but I don't really want to talk about it yet... mostly so I'll have something to talk about in a later blog post. But also because it is not ready and I don't want to tell you until it is ready.

I've been working on arts lately! I'm going to do a few more pages of my comic soon (today,  I hope to get 2 pages, and maybe another 2 tomorrow) Now that I've gotten my house straightened out its not so mentally stupid to be where my computer is (I work in weird ways).  We still have equipment drying the basement, but
 the living area is manageable now.

It was my moms birthday on Thursday, so i cleaned it up for that, so that's nice.

Anyway, that's probably enough for the moment, TTFN :)

Belated BEDA

Hello! I am late. I apologize.

I have never done BEDA before, but it seems like a fun thing to do, so I guess it's customary to introduce oneself in ones first BEDA post, right? I'm Laura. I'm Canadian (in BC, specifically) and I am... Weird? A nerd? A weird nerd? Whatever, my kids think I'm cool.

My current hobbies/likes, in no particular order are: producing my webcomic (which is currently on a short hiatus because my house had a flood last week and it's difficult to deal with so many things at once), reading other peoples webcomics (if you have one, can I have a link to it? So I can read it? My current 'pull' list is at roughly 40, and I like adding more), playing Magic: The Gathering with my husband and Pokemon with my oldest son. I like to play Warhammer: Fantasy (Lizardmen) when I can. I also like sewing projects, drawing, sketching, doodling, painting and occasionally sculpting. I also like to cook and bake. And video games. I like to go fishing, but I'm not very good at it. I like music, mostly in the "punk rock from the 90's" genre. Also Kirby Krackle is my current favorite band and they are neither punk rock nor from the 90's.

I am on Twitter and I tweet a lot, but not as much as I used to, and I have a Tumblr, where I post a lot of text posts and reblog awesome art, but not too many gifs or anything from popular TV shows or whatever if you're into that kind of thing. I also day job. I hate my day job, but I try to refrain from bitching about it online too much.

That's enough for now I think! I won't have anything to talk about for the rest of the month if I chatter on.

Superb Owl 2012

This ink was exactly what I needed

I got a new art toy

I bought myself a pot of ink last night just to try out inking by hand and OH MY GOD I love this.
I haven't inked anything of note yet but I have been doodling around:

An excerpt

This is a panel from page 2 of my current project. Page 1 has been scanned into my computer and I've already started colouring it, but I need to scan the rest of the pages soon because this one is starting to smudge badly. I'm just sketching page 8 right now.
Enjoy!

New drawing

The other day I asked my 6 year old what I should draw, and he was pondering this deeply when my (almost) 3 year old piped up "Me!", my 6 year old instantly joined in: "Yeah, draw us!"

What I had in mind was like... drawing a dinosaur or something, but whatever. I don't draw people that often so it was a nice change of pace, actually.

So I took a couple reference photos and set to work.

Some Fan Art

I drew a bit of Portal 2 fan art this afternoon while the internet was down, so if you like stuff drawn on post it notes, clicky ~~~>

I wasn't going to do it

But I think I'm going to post some resolutions anyway.

I don't remember what i posted last year and I guess it doesn't really matter anyway, I'm coaxing myself into the habit of keeping a three month plan anyway, so here's just some things I'll do this year:

Some photos I took today

So today when I was walking into the door of my office, I saw this little guy, sitting in the crevice between the window and the wall:

 It was only about 5 feet off the ground and wasn't well hidden at all, I was quite surprised.

A thing I'm working on

I know I don't normally post from my phone, and I know I don't normally post unscanned stuff, but I just drew this, and I want to share it... it's something I'm testing (so to speak) for a new idea I had. Right now it's just a dinosaur making faces.... hopefully it'll become more than that soon. (He has a name already... but I don't feel like revealing that yet)



(Apparently i can't rotate this picture, lol sorry!)

Cthulhu, Dragons and a Duck.

Another day, another allotment of art.

I'm striving towards being able to ink properly; and I think today, at least temporarily, I was able to part the clouds and figured out what the hell I was doing:

Cthulhu in the bath

I want to start sharing my art again

Here is a bit of fan art I did the other day, I don't normally like drawing, let alone posting fan art, so yeah, take it as you will. I'm relatively proud of how these 3 pieces turned out, and its been a long time since I've shared any of my art.

I think I want to start sharing my art again, though it will be all hand done until I can afford a new tablet.

Right now I'm working on building my skill with inking, its not something I have a lot of experience in and I want to change that. You can critique if you want to.

See it all after the jump --->

Resolutions

Because all the cool kids are doing it :V

I don't know what to resolve, resolutions seem so hollow (does anyone ever achieve their resolutions? I never have.) I've really been subscribing to the "why put off for tomorrow what you can do today" mantra of living lately, and its been working for me. So I'll resolve to stick to that, start projects I've been putting off (I started a quilting project I've been putting off since last Christmas last night, I don't know why I procrastinated so long now that I've started it) and complete any half-finished projects I started last year and abandoned (that I can remember, I'm sure there are tons I've forgotten).

Christmas Piles

Traditional Christmas haul list!

I got Epic Mickey, a 11th Doctor Sonic Screwdriver (that actually works as a screwdriver) a new Frikkin' TV, a hand made glass bowl a pretty new wall clock, some photo frames, some towels, a digimon digital pet thing, and a new dude for my Warhammer Army (this to be updated later today, to add birthday goodies)

Husband received Dresden Files "Changes" book, Dresden Files Series 1, some Halo lego toys that we think we'll return (a clock, towels and a Frikkin' TV too, those were for both of us) Mass Effect 2, Evil Decepticon Ornament, and Chapters gift certificate.

My Eldest son got a bucket full of dinosaurs, skates, playmobile dragon thing (omg, never get playmobile, there are 8billion little tiny pieces that will get lost instantly), scrabble junior, a lego xbox game, a lego man headlamp, playdough, a book and a billion other things that grandma gave him that she will not allow to leave her house because they are for 'her to play with the kids with'. 

He also got a bakugan toy. It cost $2.50. And he will Not put it down. Seriously. He was just singing a song that went "I'm never gonna put my bakugan down!"

My Youngest got this thing that you scribble on it and it plays music fast or slow depending on how fast you scribble, a cat stuffy, a monkey stuffy, Tonka Chuck Trucks, mega blocks, a piano (big hit! hes learned f i turn down the volume on t, if he shuts t off and back on again, the volume goes back to max, he doesn't quite understand the concept of volume buttons yet, it also has a mic that you literally have to stick in your mouth, I tried it, before it will receive anything) and once again, a pile of stuff that gets to say at grandmas house.

WHAT DID YOU GET?

A story of Best Friends

I find it truly amazing, mind boggling, fantastical, wonderful and awesome that my best friend can live 5000 kilometers away from me and we've never physically met. Especially since I once thought that having any kind of relationship, platonic or otherwise, over the internet was total bunk. I seem to have been proven utterly wrong.

I do find it sad and frustrating though that we cant go to movies or spas or give each other make overs or go to pubs or the mall together (even though I hate malls). Though knowing us we'd probably just hit all the book stores and go home and read and listen to cheesy/awesome nerd music, or watch movies we should have grown out of when we were teenagers.  Or whatever. Because it doesn't even matter, because it would just be awesome.

My identity: Nerd^5 vlog post supplemental

So I babbled on about how my identity is always changing in my most recent Nerd^5 video but I never really touched on any real aspects of my identity in it, which I had originally planned to do, apparently I am a scatterbrain so that didn't happen. There is a lot of stuff I can identify myself with, and I doubt I'll remember it all in this post but the ones that come to mind likely make up the majority of my identity...right?

Being Tuesday of Nerds to the Power of 5 has quickly become an important part of my identity. This group of... not just some of, but the best friends I have had in a very long time, has since February, cheerfully and possibly unwittingly helped coax me out of a shell that has been in place and hardening for 4 or more years. Week after themed week my shyness is ebbed away... I truly look forward to the day when my shyness is gone completely. To a lesser extent,  being a Youtuber in general is helping me break out of my shell. While its not a large part of my identity, it is a niche I enjoy.

Being a mom, though a role I was thrust into kicking and screaming and full of apprehension at the age of only 18, is important to me, and important to my identity. My two kids, ages 4 and 16 months, mean more to me than I ever thought two tiny human beings ever could. Having someone so dependant and watching them grow into their own independent person, while at times can be a struggle, defines not only my life, but theirs, their fathers, grandparents and a host of extended family. "I'm a mom" is one of the first things I use to describe myself to others.

Imaginary Travel

So I'm a big fan of making up trips. I tend to overplan, which causes my trips to become packed with things and almost no relaxation, because I start planning things way in advance and keep finding new things in the area to do. Right now I'm trapped in planning an imaginary trip to the eastern United States. Other than being a marine nut, and having always wanted to go to the Aquarium in Georgia, I've never before wanted to go to the eastern US.

This whole (albeit imaginary) trip is so weird to me because it contains a few elements I've never had to think about while planning before.

Friends
While I have travelled to visit family, I've never travelled to visit friends, nor have I ever imagined myself having such good friends so far away. I've never had to travel very far to visit family as my extended family (which consists of a whopping 3 uncles and their respective families, all conveniently located in Metro Vancouver) live a mere 4 hour drive from my home. I suppose should the imaginary travel plans evolve into real travel plans, I'll be in close conversation with my good eastern friends in whats going to happen (it will be EPIC, thats all I really know for sure) but for now its pure speculation on my part.

Taking a plane. By myself.
I'm hugely afraid of planes. Like, I get freaked out if I'm greater than 3 stories off the ground. I don't get a lot of vacation time in a year, so logically to make the most of the Epic Eastern Trip, I would have to take a plane. Driving, while it would be nice, and might be the route I'll take purely for my sanity, seems slightly impractical considering the vast distance that must be traversed (some 4000 odd kilometres) So it might be that I'll have to buck up, grit my teeth, take a couple sleeping pills, and board that jet plane. All by myself.

Being an a relatively young adult from BC in the US

Its not a big secret that Canada has looser laws about drugs than the US, and its not a big secret that the loosest laws of all exit is BC, so its really common for BC adults in my age range to get stopped by the US... what are they? cops? state troopers? I don't even know what they're called, but we get stopped, a lot, in the US under the assumption we're all potheads.

In addition, the whole miles vs kilometre thing is bound to cause me some issues (90km/h does not= 90 mi/h!) luckily, Canadian speedometers come with a handy inner circle of miles per hour in smaller font that the regular kilometres per hour. But still, I'm scared. Plus, all American money looks like $20 bills. I'm going to look like a moron, probably on more than one occasion, either by hading over the wrong amount, or examining my money too closely to make sure I'm hading over the right amount.

Thats really all I can think of for now. And looking at the costs (almost $900 for the round trip via Tango Airlines) vs taking a car (hotels, gas and food, plus at least 2 days driving time each way) it probably equates to about the same. Though, if I'm by myself, thats a lot less food I have to buy than if I'm bringing my 3 men along too.

All I need now is a passport.

So Nerdy: Furry

Who doesn't like a first blog post? And heck, who doesn't like a first blog post that talks about the [3rd] nerdiest thing known to man (read: geek chart )?

So I don't really keep it a secret, nor do I shout it to the clouds that I'm a furry. I'm no creepy pervert furry, as most of the outside world is quick to label all furries as. I'm not a babyfur, nor do I have any manner of creepy fetish associated with furryism.

I just like cartoons, thats it.  I'm just a grownup that like drawing cartoons.

There is one part of furry I have enjoyed since the early 90's, long before I ever found out what furry was. I personally didn't think was weird at all until I had 'officially' been an furry for a few years that I realized just how niche it is. Ever since I saw the original Ninja Turtle movies, I've wanted one of those costumes.

So over the last 3 or 4 years, since I found the furry subculture I've found that there are a bunch of other people who have costumes (aka: fursuits) and have entire conventions around grown ups who like cartoons (fursuit not required).

So I've spent some time and some money on attempts to create my own fursuits. First there was Orlith, my dragon character. Her costume turned out like crap, but it taught me a lot, I've since ditched the crappy body part, but I have the head still, as crappy as it is, smiling away in my basement. Then there was the fursuit that never was, Rehka the Red Panda.  While I did manage to make a sweater of her character,  I was so particular about the shade the fur had to be, I never got past sculpting her head (which turned out even crappier than my Orlith head somehow O_o) I trashed maybe $10 worth of foam and plastic on that.oh well, you live you learn.

Now theres dear old Nameless. The costume born of frustration at not being able to find the right colour of fur material for Rehka the Red Panda. Her body is almost done, I just need to finish sewing, but she is as of yet headless. I learned an important lesson from Nameless: don't bother with duct tape dummies (a kind of poor mans dressmaker dummy). Especially if your pregnant.What a waste of duct tape and newspaper that was! I got a much better fit just by tracing out patterns from my clothes, the dummy was all but useless, plus I made it look like I had a dead body in the house, which was weird.

Sorry about the rambling, I wanted my first post to be something I was familiar with, something that no one really knows about me and something i could kind of vent about all in one... tah dah! Perfect topic! ^_^

~Rehka

(PS: if you care, my character (known as a fursona in the furry world) isn't Rehka the Red Panda anymore, its turned into Rehka the White Mouse of late.  costume i will attempt as soon as i have the money for it i suppose ;) )