So lately I've discovered Lackadaisy Cats, and I am thouroughly impressed with the artist, that girl's got some serious skills! So, being in search of something new to draw, I decided to make my own speakeasy frequenting feline tribute to her incredible art design. And just to be really different, I thought I'd skip the inking part and just color the pencil shaded sketch directly.

Sadly, though, the scanner my family happens to own doesn't seem to be terribly perceptive of pencil lead. It's picking up the specular reflections from the scanning lamp, and as such it's causing the pencil lines to look like a black and white stretch of really messy swiss cheese. Not something I want to use for lineart.

So I guess I'm going to have to provide new lines on my compy, and try to make them look as natural as possible. which will be a pain, I'm sure ^^. Ah well, just gotta live with it I guess (and buy a better scanner, I'm such a tightwad).

Wow, it's been almost TWO YEARS since I last wrote anything here. Which is quite simply insane, because it simultaneously feels like it's been both twice and long and not as long as that at the same time.

So let's see, changes. I've graduated from college (magna cum laude AND Phi Beta Kappa), and am now working full time as a software developer for a fairly large (and pretty cool) contractor. I'm also 24, and while I don't paint as often I used to I still carry a sketchbook around with me and fill them quite quickly.

I've also started heavily coding a game as a hobby. One of the major benefits to having a brain which is fairly well developed in both hemispheres is that coding a decent looking platform/puzzle game by yourself is not impossible. It takes a lot of work, sure, but so far it's proving to be worth it. Which is a large part of why I think I'm going to resurrect my account here. My game is being done entirely in a 2.5D custom engine. I didn't want to go just plain 2D because I wanted things to have at least some depth, but I also didn't want to go fully 3D because I just don't find modelling as satisfying as painting. And so I split the difference, and the eventual look I'm aiming for will look something like paper mario, if paper mario had been done in gouche and watercolor.

And so, I will be posting development art here (and hopefully some one shot deals like my old images!) as I make them. Screenshots too. Feel free to criticize as much as you like, I still like having the pulp beat out of my work. I've yet to find a faster way to improve ^^.

IBM held a poster tournament this past week for all the interns, where we could present our summer projects to IBM at large. They judged them, and the winners got to have lunch with the site manager for our plant. I got first place ^^.

Lunch was actually sort of boring, as the food was sort of tasteless and nobody really had much important to say. But it was still a really cool experience to have.

Only two more weeks until classes begin. It really doesn't feel all that strange that I am a Senior this year, it just is. I'm going to be living in Ambassador housing with another American, a really crazy Korean and a Japanese kid. I know them all from last year, but since the foriegn kids were coming back for another year of study abroad we worked it out so we could be thier Ambassadors. Not like they need us at this point ^^.

I've been using Sony's stuff pretty much since the PS2 came out, but lately I really just want some good Zelda/Mario/general Nintendo action. And it's so different. I was really afraid that the touch screen was going to be gimmicky, and it is in a lot of games, but some of them like Canvas Curse look just so cool because they aren't even possible on other systems.

Personally, I think it would be so incredibly sweet if they made a version of Mario Paint for these things. The res is really crappy, but for portable sketchy fun I'd definitely pick up a copy.

I just know I'm going to come home with one of these things today...

Wow, I can't believe that rant was still there from last summer.