Drawing Projects

So, I've decided to draw a bunch of characters from Angel. The whole idea came from when I was watching the last 6 or 7 episodes of season 4--Jasmine's face just looked so interesting.

Anyway, I started taking screen caps of different characters (the ones I hadn't already drawn, that is), and ended up with thirteen screen caps. Here they are in alphabetical order (I've already drawn Angel and Cordelia, years ago):

• Connor
• Darla
• Eve
• Fred
• Gunn
• Harmony
• Illyria
• Jasmine
• Lilah
• Lindsey
• Lorne
• Marcus
• Wesley

I decided to start with Fred, and got the basic pencil sketch done, blended it and then sealed the layer with hairspray, like usual. Now, it's time to start adding the low-light layers, and I want to finish the drawing. I just don't want to draw right now, know what I mean? I just kind of lost the motivation to get my fingers all chalky at this point in time.

Ah, well. I'll put the easel in the corner and pick up where I left off tomorrow. Maybe it's just a time of day thing. Maybe my drawing motivation went away because I know that there's no sunlight right now or something, even though there's plenty of light down here in the basement to draw by.

Okay, I want to sleep now . . .

After work (which was extremely frustrating, but in the end fruitful), I had Dad look at the job I'd done on my closet as soon as I got home. I'd put the bar back up on Saturday after six months of having no closet (plus the two months in the camper, where there wasn't a closet anyway). When I finished, it was level and seemed sturdy, but I wanted to be certain before I hung my clothes on it so I asked Dad to have a look.

It was fine, so I hung up my stuff and put my spare blankets on the rack. Then I arranged my shoes, toolbox, kite, luggage and laptop case on the floor.

From there, it was just a matter of getting things organized. I started by getting the trash (various papers I'd originally wanted to save but really had no use for in the long run, books which could go under the bed with the rest, things like that) out of the middle of the floor. Then I cleaned the Sterilite plastic storage . . . thing that Jason left when he moved rooms so that I could put stuff in it.

I got a lot of stuff off of my floor, and what wouldn't fit well into the storage thing, I just organized as neatly as possible, as close to the wall as I could get it. For instance, I've got the candles I bought for the large brass candlesticks in a basket in front of my ergonomic keyboard, which is sitting propped up against the wall. And the DVDs and scratch tape which I've been working my way through watching and/or re-watching (i.e. MacGyver, Firefly, Serenity, etc.) are all stacked neatly in front of the storage bin on top of which I've got my TV and VCR/DVD-R sitting.

I've run out of storage things and/or flat, elevated surfaces, so I'm leaving everything else as-is for now. Maybe I'll buy a small coffee table or something. I know my desk won't fit in here, and even if it would, that doesn't help me to organize the stuff I've got in here already--the desk is full as it sits in my storage unit. So I think I should probably get some sort of cabinet or dresser. That could help with the "gotta find a pair of socks in the next five minutes" thing I've got going every morning, what with living out of the laundry basket (which is where I've been keeping my clean clothes; the dirty ones are all in the hamper) and all.

And then there's all the other stuff that still needs organizing if I'm ever going to be able to consolidate these bins. But that's a project for another month--I've got to buy groceries after I get paid this weekend, and also need to save some for Anna's bachelorette and wedding gifts.

After I finished with the room, I took a shower and watched a movie (G. I. Jane), took a shower, and then was too awake to get to sleep. If I'd tried to go to sleep before the shower (when I was actually inclined and sleepy enough to do so), I'd have been wide awake by four in the morning or so, and been dragging my eyelids long before class is over tomorrow. Trying before the movie would have also resulted in a too early awakening. Going to sleep after the movie would've been ideal, but I was still too awake, so I got online and checked my e-mail, among other things.

Now, I'm pretty much just rambling, and I think I'm actually sleepy again, so I'm going to pop While You Were Sleeping (or maybe Sydney White) into the DVD player and set the sleep timer on the TV with the volume down way low.

Hopefully, I'll fall asleep before the opening credits are finished. Last night, I got to at least "Pick a Little, Talk a Little"--possibly further--in The Music Man before I was out.

Art and Taxes

I had my first class on Tuesday. It was long and boring, like most first sessions are, but it's looking like it'll get more interesting as the semester goes on. For classwork, we drew still life contour drawings. For homework, we have to do the same, only with three objects in our own house. It's due next Tuesday.

Yesterday, I stopped off at the storage facility to get my tax information from last year. I also had to get a new gate key, because the old one didn't work (it was a company-wide thing, so not my fault). In addition to the tax papers, I also got the sustain pedal and music stand for my keyboard.

When I got home, I went to put the pedal and music stand on the keyboard, but Anna told me she'd taken it to Tim's house! She said she needs it to do her homework for the piano class she's taking, but she didn't even ask to borrow it, much less take it out of the house!

Not to mention, there is at least one other electronic keyboard in the house which is much less expensive (ergo, less worry about Twigg pets and little children breaking it) and works just as well. She could've taken the other keyboard, which is also more portable than mine, and Kayla could've kept mine in her room where we'd put it, since I'm almost certain there's more room there than in the Twiggs' house. It just galls me that she had the nerve to just move my property to a completely different house where I can't keep an eye on it, and didn't even make sure it was okay with me first!

All of the stuff for my plan has arrived at the house, except for the mini-fridge. According to UPS Tracking, that should arrive today. So I can set it all up this weekend, but I won't be able to buy food to put in it until a week from tomorrow.

I finished my taxes last night. I owe $15 to the IRS, and Maryland is giving me $182. I'm filing by mail this year, because I really want that Maryland return as soon as possible, but I can't afford the $19.95 to e-File it. Plus, filing by mail means more time before my check to the IRS clears, so that's a plus. I didn't want to e-File the federal return, because then it would've come out of my account right away, and I didn't want that.

I tried doing the federal by mail and the state by e-File, but again the $19.95 e-File fee through TurboTax, and it wouldn't let me do one by mail and one by e-File anyway.

Fun, Disappointments, and an Accomplishment

Thursday night turned out to be another lecture, because we were a chapter behind on lectures. We're still a chapter behind though, because Tuesday was supposed to be a double-chapter lecture too, and it seems the teacher didn't notice. Before and after class, I worked on a drawing of my D&D character, Laina (see left).

She didn't turn out quite like I pictured her, and I had trouble with a few of the proportions (her boobs look weird, and her hair's too big) but overall, I'm pleased with the drawing. Especially since it's the only full-length drawing I've ever completed--I've only ever drawn from the shoulders up before.

Yesterday was really slow, until work was done. I went to the Haven, showed off my drawing, then after a bit of talking (and after I'd renewed my membership) we had our D&D session. My character got enough experience points at the end to get to third level. Since I'd already done the research on what I wanted to do with that the weekend before, I just went through and changed the character stats accordingly.

After the game, it was pouring! I didn't know it was supposed to rain when I left work, so I didn't bring my umbrella with me. So Bart gave me a ride to my car (thanks, Bart!), then I had to do some grocery shopping.

I woke up this morning, and did some figuring. . . . It turns out that the grocery shopping overdrew me last night. So I can't 1) make a donation to Autism Speaks, or 2) buy some arrows for Jason. I was really hoping to at least be able to do the second one, but it's just not going to work.

Anna called me at 8:15 this morning, which kind of annoyed me since I'd set my cell phone to wake me up at 8:30, but that's beside the point. The reason she called is that none of the three of us (Anna, Kimba or I) got enough donations even to get tee shirts at the Autism Walk today. You have to get $100 in donations for a tee shirt, but I only made $25, and the other two got similarly small donations as well.

Also, Anna has a test today at noon which she was planning on skipping, then making up after the walk, but she wouldn't have gotten to take it with her classmates and it would've been completely short answer, instead of however the test was originally. Anna said it was up to me whether or not we went to the walk today, so I said I didn't mind not going. I mean, I like walking, so it wouldn't have been a problem if we actually went, but since I didn't get to make a donation of my own, we won't be getting tee shirts (they're neat shirts, don't laugh!), and Anna has that test, I figured it would be best not to go. Maybe next year I'll have a little more notice, and Anna won't be having a test and we'll be able to get more donations.

As for the dilemma with Jason's present . . .

Well, I have half-a-dozen arrows that I bought months ago for my own bow. They're custom-cut and made out of either fiber glass or carbon (I can't remember which), and cost me about $60. I've only used these arrows about three times since I bought them, so I'm basically wasting money just having them sit there in the quiver on my wall.

So, I will offer my arrows to Jason, and if they work with his bow (I think he has a recurve), then he can keep them. If they don't work with his bow, then I might just give him mine (a compound) since I have not used it in ages, and have dad loosen it up with his alan wrench drill bit, since I can't do it manually with an actual alan wrench--it's too tight, and the wrench tends to want to bend and break.

Drawings

So, I've been drawing this weekend, for the first time in ages. I had to go to Wal-Mart to get more chalk pastels, but that's okay. I also bought an easel. Since I don't have a scanner, I went a little lower-tech, and took pictures of my drawings with my cell phone. I probably could've done better if I'd used my digital camera, but I didn't feel like going upstairs to get the camera and the downloading cord. So, I picture messaged the drawings to my e-mail, downloaded the pictures to my harddrive, and then uploaded them to PhotoBucket.

The first one I drew this weekend was on Thursday. It's a guy with some facial hair who looks like he could possibly be a Weasley, if his hair was redder.

The next one, which I finished on Friday, is of a blonde girl with a celtic knot choker. This was the first one I drew on the easel, and I think it's the best one of the three I did this weekend.

The third one I finished this morning, and is of a blue-eyed red head. I was out of ideas for drawing, so I just asked Kayla what I should draw: guy or girl, hair color, eye color, type of shirt, etc.

Overall, I think I tend to do better if I'm drawing people who don't actually exist. Don't believe me? The three pictures below are my sister Kimba, Anya (from Buffy--a.k.a. Emma Caulfield), and Buffy Summers (a.k.a. Sarah Michelle Gellar) respectively--or at least they're supposed to be. The pixellation doesn't count as messing up, just the actual drawings.