Saturday, February 23, 2008

Aliens in the Supermarket #1: I has a starfruits |:B

Ain't it purtiful?
I figured I'd try one of these things, since they keep staring at me every time I'm in the produce aisle of the local market.

The starfruit, from the outside, has a very sweet smell and slightly "tacky" feel to the skin, which would suggest a high sugar content. However, upon cutting the thing into slices, I found that the fruit inside doesn't really have much of a smell at all, save for perhaps the slightest tinge of... feet? I couldn't quite place my finger on it.

So then, I ate a slice and my expectations were knocked by the wayside yet again. For a fruit which seems so soft from the outside, the flesh actually has a slight "crunchiness" to it, akin to raw bell pepper. Also, the flavor was not exactly sweet; rather quite sour and "dry," almost like gooseberry.

So, the final verdict? It was nothing close to what I had expected, but not really bad either. Just different... kind of going along with how unusual it looks.


Thus concludes another odd foods journal! :D

Friday, February 22, 2008

Figure drawing tutorial and other stuff

If you're interested, feel free to check out this figure drawing tutorial I put together!

Tutorial link
(Linked since Blogger automatically resizes everything... ^^; )

Also, here is the current progress on the picture in the tutorial:

Yup, I'm finally taking the plunge into digital art! I'm still a fair bit lost on a few of the processes, but it's certainly a learning experience. Also, with the help of the Tutorial Club on DA that Ahmed started, I've been able to pick up a few resources to help me out along the way.

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So, in other news, work has been fairly interesting lately. We've been picking up a lot more work, and business is picking up nicely. There was just a round of promotions, unfortunately I was not among them... however the higher-ups have stated that there will be more opportunities very soon. I'm looking forward to it!

A fellow member on HobbyFanatics has challenged all of the veteran mecha model builders to "put our money where our mouths are," so to speak, and post our recent works in order to lead the newer members by example. I've no problem with this, in fact I've just finished gluing my Wildfalken kit earlier today and it'll be ready for primer once I sand it one more time... but I don't really want to post a WIP thread unless I'm doing something extraordinary like extensive mods or a new technique of some sort... So, I'll just try to get through this one really quickly (and hopefully the weather lets up so I can airbrush the thing...), so I have a finished product to show everyone. And hopefully I don't get bashed for my shitty camera. lol

This doesn't really look like enough to start a WIP thread off of, does it?
Also, my usual airbrushing "workbench" is out of commission at the moment:


I set up a board on this ledge outside of my apartment as a platform for airbrushing, since I can't set up a spray booth indoors.

Oh well, maybe it'll give me an opportunity to practice my handbrushing techniques?

Sunday, February 17, 2008

They know when you're eating... (O_o)

OH HI

I find it interesting that I generally don't get any phone calls until I have just cooked something or brought food home, and am sitting down to eat. Then everyone I know calls me, and several whom I don't! Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon?

I have discovered the joy of building model kits at work. During the slower days, it's really nice to have something to do in between cases! I've built my 1/144 Wildfalken over the course of the past two days; it's just too bad that I'm not able to putty or paint it due to fume issues.... though sanding is fine of course, since I can sand the parts over the bottom half of the box. I may or may not post it on HobbyFanatics when it's finished...

Bullet For My Valentine's new album, "Scream Aim Fire" is freaking amazing. It's just about all I've listened to over the past couple of weeks... (well, aside from "Lensflare" of course! )

CG art is still taking some getting used to. I've laid down all of the flat colors on separate layers and cleaned up the edges; now I've just got to figure out how to "contain" the areas of color so none of the color goes outside the lines when I do shading and such. I have the sneaky suspicion it has something to do with "masks," but I've just got to fiddle around with the program a bit more I think.

I've found the ideal breakfast food: a large slab of Foccacia bread, lightly toasted, with a small bowl of hummus (with peppers, onion, and fresh cilantro) for dipping. It's filling, nutritious, and just tastes good. Plus, the sheer amount of bread helps to absorb the coffee I drink with it, thus allowing me to drink more!

Trigun Maximum vol. 12 is rather interesting. Not a whole lot happens story-wise, but nonetheless a LOT of things happen which I never thought I'd see in that series. Livio has become even more of my favorite character now.

I now have a bag of giant potatoes. There are some in there which would cover a whole plate upon cutting in half! Time for some killer baked potatoes...

:iconohshitplz: My joke account on DA, "Oh Shit plz," continues to grow in popularity. Where will the madness end?!

I'm working on a commission for someone at work; a gift for his daughter (who I think I went to school with; she looks really familiar somehow...), drawing her as a fighter/warrior kind of person. You know, the type of characters I always draw. I should get around to finishing it... got to ask him on a color scheme first though. He's already approved of the armor design, so that's good... I definitely didn't want to portray her with too much sexual appeal; it might not be such a good idea since I'm in communication with her father and all.

Horchata is a delicious drink, but the little rice granules get annoying after a while. No matter how refreshing a mug of it is, the sandy feeling from the rice sludge negates the whole effect.

Why did Klaha feel the need to nearly always sing vibrato when he hits higher notes? I normally really enjoy his vocal style, but it becomes incredibly annoying on "鏡の舞踏幻惑の夜"... I've had the CD forever, but still have never been able to stand that song due to the overuse of that technique.

This ride on the train of my thought has been brought to you by the letter "4" and the number "f."