Foods I want to try eventually

As you may well know, I have a fascination for foods which most might find strange or unusual. I've been thinking about this, and have come up with a list of foods I would like to try sometime in my life.

1- Century Egg
This ancient Chinese delicacy is essentially an egg that has been preserved for several months in a clay and herb mixture that is specially formulated in order to promote a sort of "controlled spoilage" inside the egg, fermenting the contents into a savory compound surrounded with slime. It looks rather horrendous, but allegedly tastes wonderful. As the concept of such a state fascinates me, I actually want to try it, regardless of whether or nor I can stand the sight of the stuff. I'll save further judgment for when I actually have the opportunity to try one.

2- Durian
This fruit native to southeast Asia is often referred to as the "King of Fruits." It's surrounded in thorns, it supposedly smells awful, but behind these rather formidable defenses lies a custard-like filling that has been described by several sources as the best thing they have ever tasted. As a man, I don't mind fowl smelling things, so this one shouldn't be a problem for me... however, finding some in Midwest America might prove to be more than difficult.

3- Truffles
I am a fan of edible fungus, so this should be right up my alley. With a complex flavor which has been described as being similar to almonds, garlic, chocolate, sunflower seeds, etc., it seems to be a rather versatile ingredient in the kitchen.... if only SOMEONE WOULD AGREE ON WHAT THE HELL THEY TASTE LIKE!!! I think the reason why there are so many differing opinions on the taste of truffles is because they are so expensive that no one has actually ever eaten them... Just once, I'd like to try them just to find out what the big fuss is all about.

4- Snake
As common as these critters are, and as supposedly delicious their meat is, one must wonder why they're not a more common source of food. Granted, there are certain difficulties encountered in the raising of them as a livestock animal, including but not limited to the fact that many species are poisonous, and the fact that they are incredibly difficult to keep confined... These factors make this something that I would have to catch for myself, if I could get my hands on one and properly identify it as a safe species that is...


That's all of them I can think of for now.

Main character, EGA-style

Hello! I'm working on a new experimental project right now, of drawing each of my main characters in different types of fashion, the first of which being Justin Mitchell in EGA (Elegant Gothic Aristocrat) style.

I'm pretty happy with how this sketch came out, as it is quite a departure from my usual style.

Seinaru Koku Eien no Inori music video - Malice Mizer

Hello!

I'm currently obsessed with one of the songs off of Malice Mizer's "Bara no Seido" album, Seinaru Koku Eien no Inori. The song is rather lengthy, but makes excellent use of several orchestral instruments (including a grand organ!), a choir, and of course the band itself. The song is incredibly beautiful and complex, but due to its length I figured there was no way there could be a music video for it. Well, I managed to find a live concert performance of the song, and I'll be damned, it sounds just as good as the album version! Some bands are just too perfect...

Anyway, here's the video:

I've turned off the autoplay on my blog's music player, so you won't have to rush down there to turn it off while watching this video. ;)

In other news, I've gotten to the end of the Re-GZ Custom kit and was ready to apply the decals; but while inspecting the sheet for the wings, I noticed that rather than "Gundam," the decal says "Gundan" instead.
I don't know if it was done to avoid copyright issues since it's not an official product, or if it was a legitimate mistake... but it is rather annoying that I won't be using such a cool-looking decal just because of a typo.


But, while I'm doing the whole embedded video thing, here's a brilliant commercial featuring the creepy Burger King guy:

Something old - Nemesis's final weapon

This is an old drawing of Nemesis's final weapon, the "Vengeful Phoenix Goddess." I designed it back when I was really into Dynasty Warriors 4, what with its overly stylized weapons and all... So you can see that there are several parts of the shaft that don't quite make sense in the overall "flow" unlike most of my other weapon designs. It is, in fact, for that very reason that I have not posted the thing... However, after seeing how successful my other two weapons I've posted over at DeviantArt have become (the "Godfire Dragon Blade" and especially the "Soul of Hell" ), and also I still rather like the forward half of this weapon, I decided to go ahead and put it up on the intarwebz for everyone to see. :P

It is interesting to note that on this one, since the primary blade is now comprised of energy (similarly to the aforementioned Godfire Dragon Blade), there is some more stuff added to the forward section to compensate. Also, though it's quite small in the picture due to foreshortening, you can see the blade from her first-form weapon used in place of the counterweight... perhaps making the weapon more of a voulge than a naginata.

New title for the series

Since the new year is meant to bring about positive, refreshing change, I have decided to take a huge step in my main series that I have been contemplating for quite some time: I'm changing the title. Since I have more experience as a writer now, I know a little more about what kinds of titles are more effective in a work... plus, with the new attitude and look of nearly every aspect of the series I felt that the title was long due for an overhaul as well. The old title, "Unholy Paladin," was one that was named for the role played by the main character, Adrian Kadmon; but it lacked the catchiness that one would expect from a title. Plus, most people are uncomfortable with the word "Unholy" and unfamiliar with the term "Paladin," except for the D&D freaks.

And so, without further ado, the new title that I've decided upon is:

DevilSaint: "lamierina del caduto"

It has a much nicer ring to it, since he main title has less syllables, plus it's easier to remember and just plain sounds cooler. It's the kind of title that really gives the impression of an epic series, yes?

And one more to finish out the year with!

I saved my best one for last! :D

This is my character Heather Dawes with her Deity Enyo. The guitar she's holding is actually my own Yamaha RGX612A (though it's kind of hard to tell from the back of it lol ). This one took a long time to complete, as I had to redraw the entire picture several times over because I simply wasn't happy with how any of the sketches were turning out; then I picked out the parts I liked out of each of the four sketches and used my light table to ink a composite of those things. I am very happy with the end result; I'd say this is probably my best illustration this year!

So, looking into 2008, I hope to be more productive as an artist, and continue improving at this rate.

Ultema

Hello!

The other day, I finished a piece for Nia of her main character, "Ultema."
Here it is!

NEW JOB!!!! And self-portrait.

YAAAAAY I just got hired on at Affiliated Computer Systems! I'll be doing data processing for Child Support cases for the state of Ohio! The job starts on January 7; I can't wait!

Also, I've drawn a new self-portrait. Enjoy!

I've shaven my face since drawing this, LOL.

I has a musics!

LOL I just figured out how to add music functionality to my Blog! You can find my playlist waaaaaay at the bottom of the page! There aren't that many songs in there yet, but I'll add more as I find more that I like from the site that provided the service.
EDIT:  Took it down; most people don't really appreciate autoplay music on webpages, and besides, this ain't no MySpace!  lol

In other news, the job fair I went to recently was a huge success. I passed the first three phases of the hiring process, and have an appointment on Wednesday for the final interview and to set up my schedule for when the new call center opens. My job there will be to handle Child Support cases for the state of Ohio; I'll be making more money than I was making at my old job, and this new place is just 10 minutes away, rather than almost an hour! Hopefully everything goes well, and I'll be back working again starting January 7! Until then, I'll just enjoy my little vacation... fortunately I had enough money saved up and was able to get a break on my rent, so this month shouldn't be too bad financially. :D

Apollo drawing, I decided not to CG. :P

Here's the finished illustration of Apollo firing the energy cannon as seen previously:


YAAAY I didn't need CG to color the lighting effects afterall! :D

Also, things seem to be looking up on the job front: There's a job fair tomorrow and Saturday, and one of the jobs is an IT firm whose starting pay is just $10/hr... but they're in town and provide full insurance and benefits without having it as a payroll deduct. Hopefully I'll be able to get a job with them!

Apollo WIP

I went ahead and just scanned the inked linework into my computer so I can try my hand at this Photoshooping thing... I've been meaning to make the switch to digital coloring for quite some time now, but haven't done so yet for three reasons:
1- My computer's processor is crap for graphics programs. But I guess I'll have to deal with the jerkiness of the pointer trying to catch up with itself in the process of trying to improve my art.
2- I didn't know how to separate the lineart to set it into the foreground without redrawing everything. Now that I've finally gotten ahold of a tutorial, I no longer have an excuse.
3- I suck at digital art. But, after getting a tablet and putting in plenty of practice on 4chan's /i/ board (For those who don't know what it is, it has a built-in art program in the forum), I might be able to produce something halfway worthwhile.


The main reason why I'm wanting to make the switch to digital coloring is because it is incredibly difficult to accurately depict lighting effects (particularly colored lighting) with traditional materials. Plus, it'll be easier to create smoother gradients, fix mistakes, and get the colors to look right since I won't have to worry about the scanner not picking up colors properly.

So... hopefully this won't turn out like crap.

Some new stuff

Hey, I've been not updating this thing for quite some time now.... I figured it was about time to put in some sort of update! So, here are some new drawings since I can't think of anything worthwhile to say:






I've been getting a little better since I've had some more practice and lessons, but I still have a long ways to go to get where I want to be. Extra thanks to the portfolio reviewer at High-Voltage Studios for giving me that kick I needed to begin to take my character illustrations to the next level (of course, actually putting in the damn backgrounds could be a smart thing too, but... I've just got to start working even harder!).

Up for a promotion!

Hello!

I am happy to report that I am up for a promotion at my job! I'm one of the candidates among those who applied to become Trainers here, due to my prior experience as both a trainer and a supervisor at another job! The pay is $2 more per hour, and it gets me off of the phones... hopefully I'll be one of the people selected for the job.


In other unrelated news, while I was working on the F90 Type-V kit I purchased recently, I managed to give myself the worst model-kit related injury I have yet to sustain. On the bottom of one of the feet, there is a recessed area in the middle between the treads that is really hard to get to for the purpose of getting rid of any glue piled up on the seam... so I took an angled "chisel"-type hobby knife blade to scrape away the glue. Well... the glue line resisted for a bit, then suddenly gave away; allowing the blade to slice RIGHT THROUGH THE TREAD ON THE SIDE OF THE SOLE and into my finger. The blade went all the way through to the bone, severing an artery and instantly unleashing a small spray of blood; some of the spatters reaching 3 feet from my desk! D: Two paper towels were completely soaked in less than a minute as I attempted to contain the bleeding, then I held a proper cloth towel over the cut for another half-hour or so until it slowed down to the rate of a normal hobby knife cut (lol). It's now been about 4 days since I did that; the hole is healed up, but my fingertip is still numb... The amusing thing about the whole ordeal when it happened was that the first thought that went through my head was not "OMG this hurts" or "Wow, that was stupid"... but rather, "I'm glad I was planning on painting this thing!" :D

Anyways, the art lessons are going fairly well; I'm still having a bit of difficulty fitting everything into my schedule, though... but I finally managed to get some decent screencaps of the mech Hathor from Zone of Enders for the redesign project requested by Kyle 3 months ago... so hopefully I'll have some time to work on that before too much longer. ;_;

Moar portrait works!

Here's another portrait painting I just completed today, of Megan Zhang from my series Trooper Blaze. I learned on the previous portrait of Amanda that I didn't really need to draw in shading with the colored pencil I did the linework with; just doing shading with the paint is fine. :P

Here's the portrait; let me know what you think!

On a sidenote, I need to find a type of paper that takes watercolor paints a little better... I'm currently using heavy Bristol boards and they wrinkle all to Hell whenever I use the paint over a large area... D: I know that there is specially made "watercolor paper", but it wrinkles just the same and has a terrible texture that often ruins the picture....

Learning to be a better artist

I have decided to start studying up on whatever materials I can find on tutorials and other ways to become a better artist. I have been showing some progress in my work, but it's still not enough for my liking... so I'm going to try to "kick it into overdrive" throughout the next year or so in order to improve as quickly as I possibly can.

Here is a portrait that I have just finished... I used a purple colored pencil for the linework, and colors with watercolor paint. The whole thing was an attempt at a "speed-illustration;" trying to produce a quality image with materials that do not allow for mistakes, and get it done as quickly as possible. This one took about 1 hour 10 minutes to complete; not including the time for the paint to dry.
Let me know what you think!

GenCon was fun

Hello everyone!

I figured I would give an update on how GenCon went; it's been a week past already!

On Thursday, Zignoff and I got to Indianapolis at about 11:00 AM. When we got to the Convention Center, there was a MASSIVELY long line wrapped around the corner of the main entrance, going on for almost two blocks total. Two hours later in the sweltering summer heat later, we were able to get inside to the nice air-conditioning and purchase our 4-day passes. The wait was well worth it!

GenCon ahoy!

Hello!

Tomorrow morning, I will be heading out to GenCon, the Games and Entertainment convention held every year in Indianapolis! I look forward to another great time of hanging out with friends I haven't seen in a while, checking out the nightlife in Indy, and of course getting lots of cool stuff from the dealer hall! :D

I'll try to take pictures of some of the more interesting stuff there; and will update as soon as I get back home!

...What's my job again?

Hmm.

About two months ago, the Teleperformance call center I work at was moved over to doing work for Boost Mobile doing activations and such for cell phones. Just a few weeks ago we were informed that Boost was leaving and that we would be working for Sprint general care. Now, only one week through Training Bay for Sprint, we are informed that we will become Sprint's Billing Department instead.

So basically, I will be explaining to the customers of a company I don't even directly work for why their cell phone bills are all in the $200-$300 range. Oh joy.


On a side-note, GenCon is less than a week away, so hopefully I'll be able to get a good word in with some of the publishers there and maybe see about getting employed in an industry that I actually WANT to work for. :/

Tagged! Twice!!! :D

Hello everyone! I've just been "tagged" by both Baxojayz and Misato-chan, meaning I must post 8 little-known facts about myself. These might take a while to do...

1: I am a fan of unusual pets.
I am fascinated by the prospect of keeping an animal that seems unusual or at least a bit "different." The two types of pets I am currently the most interested in having are:
Skunk- these can be legally owned in the state of Indiana with a license and taking the animal to a vet while young to have the stink glands removed. They're resistant to disease and are easily vaccinated for rabies, and are actually pretty cool-looking little animals!
Giant Centipede- They grow to an average of a foot long or slightly larger, and are capable of systematically disemboweling and eating a mouse until all that's left is the empty sack of its skin! Check it out! (only if you have a strong stomach, that is...)

2: I've had a job ever since I was legally able to get one.
When I turned 14, I started working for Pioneer doing farm work in their corn fields as seasonal work until I could get a year-long job at 16; and I've been working ever since! Through the years I have had the jobs of:
farm laborer
janitor / closing stock person at a toy store
fast food worker at two restaurants; making it to Trainer Supervisor at the second of them
lead singer for the band Rebellious (we didn't get far at all...)
ADSL technician
Care Representative for two different cell-phone companies
And of course, freelance comic book artist!

3: I have yet to take travel outside of the United States.
I've been to nearly every state in the eastern half of the country, but have yet to actually go to any other nation of my own accord. I have been on ships numerous times, but only been on a plane once (and I was way too young to remember...). I would love to follow in my parents' footsteps, travel and see the world someday, but I don't yet have the linguistic skills to really make it anywhere else yet (I can read Spanish and Portuguese, can more or less bullshit my way through most French, but am not skilled enough to listen and speak fluently in any of those languages...), and unless I join the military like they did, the money required for traveling is more than I can afford at the moment. Someday, though...

4: "Seafood is my body, and coffee is my blood!"
Most of my favorite foods are seafood of various types. I have yet to come across seafood that I didn't like; if it comes from the ocean, chances are I've eaten it and will do so again! Barbecued eel and sushi are my palate's current obsessions.
And speaking of obsessions, there is my hopeless addiction to coffee to consider! If you see me at home or work without some form of coffee, there must be something wrong! I usually can't even get going in the morning without at least 4 cups; and my trusty 32-oz mug is always right there at my desk at work for whenever I need a quick pick-me-up. The best cup of coffee is a 10-1 ratio of dark-roast coffee and coconut milk, topped with a splash of Kahlua. Another good combination is espresso with chocolate syrup and half of a banana, mixed in the blender.

5: I am a notorious procrastinator.
Yup, let's face it... the biggest factor that keeps me from getting major tasks accomplished usually tends to be my own reluctance to get things done. I often try to pin the blame on schedule constraints or monetary issues (which are usually actually a factor), but quite often when I actually get the free time to get a project taken care of I'm too tired out from my regular hectic schedule and just want to do nothing but relax... or maybe that's another excuse. I need motivation, dammit!

6: I have never had a serious relationship that has lasted for more than 6 months.
This one is pretty much self-explanatory... the majority of my relationships have been little more than brief flings. I have been wanting a more meaningful relationship than just that, but all of the women I've been with are of the mindset of just having fun and moving on; having no intention of anything long-term.

7: Music is one of my biggest passions.
I have a collection of over 500 music CDs now; just counting the original copies (I only have about 30 or so burned CDs; most of which I later bought anyway). My favorite styles are Power Metal, Jazz, Classical, Rock, and Trance. Really though, the only styles of music I don't like are Gangster Rap, Children's Music, and Country... either they annoy the crap out of me, or they're overly redundant. I listen to music in over 10 different languages; as long as the music had a lot of effort put into it the lyrics don't seem that important to me. My current favorite bands/musicians are:
Blind Guardian
Iced Earth
E Nomine
Rhapsody (of Fire)
WAG
Jethro Tull
MASA
Also, after my band Rebellious failed I did a joke solo project as the rapper "Peter Cheese." I wrote, recorded and produced four songs of dubious quality; I doubt if they have even reached circulation beyond central Indiana yet... perhaps someday these things shall see the light of day... :D

8: I have used several aliases throughout the years on web pages and accounts on different sites.
During the pioneering days of teh Intarwebz when ID theft was a big concern, I had created a few different aliases to keep my true identity unknown. I have since changed them all to my actual name, but here are the aliases in case anyone has seen them before:
Samuel Anderson- This one was based off of the "porn name" idea, by which one creates a name out of their first pet's name (Sam, a black cat) and the city they currently live in.
Makoto Chiba- This one came from one of those "generate your Japanese name" pages; I kind of liked the name and used it for a while to make my Anime-styled illustrations seem more "authentic"... but it backfired on me when I started receiving E-mails and comments in Japanese text (which I can't read...), so this one was retired quickly.
Lee Christopher- I still use this one from time to time; it's just my middle and first name used to look like a real name.



This is the point where I would normally tag 8 Bloggers that I know, but since all of the ones I am familiar with have already been tagged I'll leave it at this.

Ittoryu is THE MAN!!!! :D

Today I received this illustration of Enyo and Nemesis from my buddy Ittoryu!

THIS MAN CAN DRAW MY CHARACTERS BETTER THAN I CAN!!! :D

If you have a DeviantArt account, give the man props for his skills on the page where he submitted this picture, HERE!