FIRE DEPTHS

So, here I am again...  Still out of work, still barely surviving, still deeply depressed and still trying to get my shit together while every single molecule that constitutes the horrendous fecal matter that is my existence continues to work its way in the absolute opposite direction of such a lofty goal...

Fuck it, I'm out...  Here's my latest piece... 

Hopefully someone actually sees it, perhaps even likes it, possibly finds the sufficient empathy to muster something remotely resembling a comment...   Or maybe just gives half a shit about it to be slightly amused by my complete lack of artistic competence!

Either way, here it is...

Wicked?

WORKING HARD AT HARDLY WORKING...

  Well, I'm back at it again after a while off the grid, to use a John Connor euphemism (Am I correct in using that term?  Is it even applicable?  Oh, well, always wanted to use it in a sentence, so there!)...
  At any rate, I've been applying myself,  trying to get better at my "craft", playing with different ideas, working on my color palettes (limited as they are) and overall keeping myself busy with my characters and improving my design skills...
  No real paying job yet, I'm afraid, and no illusions of getting any in the field anytime soon, but attempting every day to muster enough inspiration and hopeless faith in my creations to keep it going, albeit not in a speedy fashion, as you may have noticed...

  However, since my last entry I've managed to pull together a new series of drawings that I've dubbed my "L.A.Aliens", and basically consist of several extraterrestrial creatures, mostly to humorous effect, that I've pasted to random pics I've taken from my urban surroundings here in Los Angeles...

  The topic of illegal entry or undocumented entities living amongst "us" is very latent in our society but seldom approached without the whole political baggage and/or nasty discriminatory postures normally associated with it...
  I though it could be very interesting, provocative and (why not?) even amusing to play with the idea that here, in our country, we always fear that which is foreign or unknown, always attempting to fend it off and surround ourselves with the familiar, without realizing that, unbeknownst to us, these alien elements are already here, all around us! (And thankfully so, I might add!)

  And so, this fellow came into being... The Interstellar Tagger, my first creature in the series...

  Also, a couple of my friends (which is to say, just one a-hole!) which had seen my "early years stuff" mentioned that I'd somehow departed from my original style and was doing mostly the humanoid animal shtick... 
  Of course, as I'd mentioned in earlier posts (way, way earlier!), the idea was for me to initially take baby steps, practice in a matter of sequential exercises and eventually, gradually, increase my graphic prowess...

  If that has been the case, I leave for you to decide... But I have began to create more complex pieces and intend to continue doing so in my hapless quest for artistic betterment (Is that even a word? Hope it is!)...

  So here they are for your dubious enjoyment...  All of them have already been posted to my Facebook account for quite some time under my pseudonym, L.A.NaNa, of course...

  Until next time...

  Bye! (Feel free to leave a comment... I'm dying out  here!)

 CIGARETTE BREAK

PLANETLESS

                                                 BIKINI

                                                  
                                                                    PRADASITE

                                                                           GNAT

                                                                          LOST

                                                                    POSTCARD

"THE PROCESS" starring QT-12

Well, it seems since forever since my last entry... It's actually been like four freaking months, but who's counting, right?
It's not like anyone is actually checking this shit out anyway...
Although I've received a couple of hits from Tunisia and Malaysia (No doubt some people surfing for the Arab Spring websites and gotten lost along the way)...
But I guess I'll keep it up, if not for any reason other than to keep myself insane... I mean sane... Yeah, sane...

Anywho, I'm still trying to learn as much as I can without any formal training and bugging my more accumen-bestowed friends online (It's actually just one guy really... By the way, thanks Birdy!) with my stupid technical questions and absolute show of ignorance on the subject of graphic design...

Still, I procrastinate... I mean, I percevere with my delusions and continue on with my quest to...  Well, not sure what that is either , or if it's even a quest... I guess it would more accurately be described as an aspiration, maybe a vocational persuit...

Okay, most of my drawing obviously start off as pencil sketches(Easy part), which I then ink (Harder part, 'cause it takes so much effort!), scan into my PC (With a very crappy scanner... Well, the PC is pretty shitty too, to be honest) and then  proceed to try quite precariously to color it with my extremely obsolete graphic software...

And that is what I refer to as "The Process."

And here's a bad video to illustrate... I created this robot for an idea I have for a comic book and did a series of coloring exercises, ran it through some filters and gave it a simple background... I named it QT-12...
Yeah, I know, totally lame...
The song's cool though (Love you Alpinestars!)...

Enjoy...

And that wasn't rethorical, but it might be sarcastic, depending on the circumstances and your reaction to my video... 

Bye!

OOPS-AMA BEEN TALKIN'...

  Well, Osama Bin Laden is dead... Or at least he is according to our ever truthful and trustworthy Government...  So, we can all now breathe a sigh of relief (Or sickening cheers, as so many have done to express their hopelessly warped sense of patriotism)... The threat is over, all is well in the World... We killed a man...

  Never mind the increasingly suspicious way the whole affair unfolded,  I prefer to focus the intention of this humble Post to what occurred immediately after the alleged assault... That is to say, Absolutely Nothing.

  It has become painfully clear that our elected officials, up to and including the Executive, can declare wars,  order bombings into civilian populated areas, carry out assassination plots, and basically kill and destroy indiscriminately using our Armed Forces, and do so with little to no oversight, legal justification or accountability... 

  All they have to do is tell Us, the American People, whatever they want... and we'll believe it without question!  And if we don't, well...

   It truly has become a depressing state of affairs when you cannot speak your mind, count on the Media to inform the People with veracity and investigative reporting, or even have plain, old fashion common sense without it being tantamount to being labeled a "conspiracy nut", overly critical of the current Administration or down right unpatriotic...

OUT OF THE ZONE...

  Been out of the zone, trying to work on a new project...  Inspiration a bit scattered... Motivation a bit low to be honest... Looking for work like the rest of the world... Without success...

  Would like to get some classes/courses in graphics, but money's tight... A buddy of mine from Mexico hooked me up with a free program that I downloaded to my PC and I've been toying around with it, checking out it's tools and functions... Layers are still a bitch for me, but I keep trying... 

  So far so good, I suppose...even for an aesthetic neanderthal like myself...

  They closed a Borders near my area (Quite possibly the only one in east L.A., man!  Thanks a lot Corporate America...Glad to bail your ass out anytime!) and they were slashing prices on  everything, except the really good shit of course, but I was able to get one of those how-to books on Anime that wasn't too expensive (and a nice compilation on Harvey Pekar also)...
 And I hate Anime, by the way, but it's kinda informative about coloring techniques, character design and so forth... So, I'll just take the stuff that's useful and disregard the garbage,  just like I do with all constructive criticism.
  And keep on with my so-called... Well, whatever you call what I'm trying to do... I don't know myself...

  In any event, if things go according to plan (which we can rest assured they won't),  I should soon have the first installment of a short story  I've remarkably managed to finish writing  and a brand new blog where to post it too... Three cheers for me...

  So see you soon, if you even exist, whoever you may be, if anyone at all, figment of my imagination...

  To thee, I say Salud!






  



MEASURE OF A MAN...

                  The measure of a man is his mind...

                 http://mypoweranimal.blogspot.com/

MY POWER ANIMAL: MY NEIGHBOR, KING CHOLO...

MY POWER ANIMAL: MY NEIGHBOR, KING CHOLO...