The Third Friend

The Third Friend by ~freakdearts on deviantART

noooo

I swear I'm not closing up on you all it's just it's of course been very hard to keep writing while writing for school as well, if you catch my drift. I really wish that I could update more frequently but when you're also doing home work til two o'clock in the morning it's quite hard to follow through with something that may be fun... and I have been working enough that it's put me out of commission for three whole days and still coughing... I'm not sure if it's a good thing for me to already be pushing my body to a limit already ... it's only been six weeks since term started... anyway, it's not like I don't have art... my typography teacher has a bet with us of sorts that he won't get one extra credit sketch book journal from any of his students this year... I probably won't need to submit it as design isn't really a hard thing for me although this is of a typographic nature, but the required minimum of 5 minutes a day of actual drawing it is a good motivation to get me actually sketching again... and we're coming up with some lovely designs for Lalaland... I might actually post somethings from there but then again that would mean taking time away from homework to scan and upload them so it may not happen at all, just like me actually finishing posting these character sheets won't either...

The Second Friend

The Second Friend by ~freakdearts on deviantART

The First Friend

The First Friend by ~freakdearts on deviantART

ARRRRGHH

Sometimes I swear technology has sentience... a spiteful sentience...

I had just bought an external hard drive to save my overstuffed internal one on my ailing PC, when the graphics card killed itself... in my presence. I had just started it up and sat down when my screen was splayed across with something like this:

Of course I was kind of expecting something like this, my computer had been flagging all of last semester and this close to the next one it was practically asking for it... but just the week before? really? well luckily it was 3 years ago that my machine was built so an upgrade will put in hardware that is discounted by now so it should only be about a week until its back up and working, still, that's annoying... and creepy... gads! first bouncers and now this; term can't start any sooner! 

Friendship-Hatred by ~freakdearts on deviantART
My first piece for the new year is a piece that, oddly enough, was inspired by an NPR news story [link] at the beginning of last semester... It was last of a series on All Things Considered aired in early August about life in the Gaza strip, no doubt sparked by the Israeli peace talks that started during that time... for some reason it resonated deeply with me and when I heard it I couldn't help but start immediately sketching what came to mind...

As an artist I'm fascinated by the connections that can develop between two people, naturally these are usually romantic in nature but I still feel that a lot can be communicated about the nature of said relationship by facial expression, gesture, and body language... subtle things really but there... but with this piece I wanted to focus more on a relationship of a friendship nature than the romantic sort without being as sentimental as in my other pieces especially a relationship as complicated as the one reported... as such I really wanted to emphasize the links in such a way that would be respectful to the source material and not overly cliche... color plays a very symbolic role in this piece in tandem with typography and imagery; I really wanted to make things clear but in a subtle way that wasn't too sentimental... since this is my first piece of potentially political artwork I've done I wanted it to focus on the people involved more than anything else.

As for the symbolism within the piece I highly recommend you listen to the story [link] since it makes more sense when you do...

As a note of trivia that particular color of orange gold was lifted from this particular movie:[link] which I also highly recommend.

TL;DR listen to this story [link] to get it...

All the necessary excuses

There is nothing more embarrassing in my opinion than violating that unspoken internet contract that states that once you start posting something you must continue to do so indefinitely (if I were speaking as an advertising exec I might say that such a contract is more often than not less unspoken than actually written and signed at least if anyone wants to make any money off the webs).well, I've obviously been in violation of it for the past *looks over* oh, year at least on this blog anyway on deviant art I have been rather active more... But I have good excuses for that which we'll get back later... Now, Of course there is that part of my self that says:" wtf You're an artist not a blogger why would anyone want to read your tl;dr crap they're just into the next visual stimuli which you aren't even getting payed to create...in fact, its none of their business what you do with yourself why are you letting yourself be dictated by what your non-existent audience's expectations? In fact, why are you even writing this?" (and that may also possibly explain why I'm even trying to continue on with this line of logic). Well to you, little annoying voice I say: that's a very good question... The answer to which both of us have the potential to find an answer to on this great new adventure were going on right now or will be beginning very soon because we're restarting our online sphere of non-influence (which would usually present itself to the tune of "I'm alive!!!" or some other noise of renaissance.)
Little voice: You just ignored my question completely.
Me: It waS a stupid question.
Little voice: and kept on with your grandiose bull***t to do something unsustainable and potentially stupid because you're desperate for attention
Me: Yes, but I'm not desperate for attention, it's a resolution, besides people might actually want to know what I'm doing and what I think.
Little voice: Yeah, like like they want to have a hole in the head...
Me:yeathatwasntreallyfunnyanyway*ahem
Anyway! Excuses! Well for one school... As I already said in my previous post which started this hiatus, my first semester of college was quite full. Well not really, I only took four classes three of which were art/design related and the other was engl comp1 but that's not important...

What's important is that because of some incredible fluke in the testing process the english class was part of the honors program and took a lot of brain and emotional power to crank out exposition pieces that were laking in imagination although not semicolons... Luckily the professor was interesting enough to pay attention to and invest effort in meeting his expectations so somehow I was able to scrap together an...A? (Must have been the same improbability blip that got me into the class in the first place) but needless to say I was not going to expend the brain energy that I did not have after finishing a term paper fifteen minutes before the deadline on a recap of what I had just jammed into my brain, diced, minced, scrambled, pickled, reassembled, disassembled reassembled again and finally hoicked back up onto the nearest keyboard,dressed up and shipped off for my prof to shred and grade.

As far as the visual arts were concerned the drawing pieces were either too large to photograph or too weird and unfinished(not to mention vague) to fathom submission and while my instructor was certainly excited about them I wasn't. Most were too close to the english pieces in feeling and I was not that inspired by the subjects which usually were the same grimey and frustratingly familiar array of objects in the class room ... I never like reprocessing reality there's just not that much margin for error, the reality in my head is far easier to draw. None the less, the drawing class was great because not only were we working on a larger scale than I was used to we were also able to experiment with different media and approaches. And of course there were the nude model sessions which are essential for any serious artist no matter how awkward they may be *snigger at least we had professional and moderately well looking ones... *hem and despite the difficulties of actually reproducing it I was able to learn how to actually see what I was looking at and trying to draw. I think I try and do a mash up with the best of the larger ones and individual postings of the better smaller ones...once I get them back from my teacher.

As far as the digital art classes I took were concerned they were merely introductory courses which, while I did learn some new tricks,were mostly tedium that reviewed well troden pathes in PS and introduced me somewhat flounderingly to Illustrator, PS's cousin. The photoshop class dealt with using photos which I was ill prepared for since all I had for that was my cel's camera and I knew nothing about illustrator so I was a complete noob and nothing ever did look right. Luckily I had my handy dandy graphire tablet to save me and greatly enhance my output. I don't think I'dve passed without it since I suck at photomanipulation and was a beginner at the illustrator program, not to mention the teachers were kind of duds imo. Needless to say the work done has no place outside the classroom even though it was what my creative efforts had been fed into all that time(it was usually too late once I got back home to do much more than dishes and cram a bit more writing in before crashing).

Now I'm not going to say that this next semester won't be as stressful as the last, certainly not as in fact I'm going to take math as well, but I'm also not going to say that I'm going to cut off all contact indefinitely again... I'll try to update as often as possible even if what I have to say isn't the most interesting or the art the best I could do...in that area you may just have to settle for moleskin pieces and the random doodled fanart... But at least I'll be posting something... I may even do a few digital pieces so I don't get too rusty and I certainly will release the designs for my latest comic project which I may or may not do... I mean after all why would I go through all the trouble of saving up to buy a super awesome cool tablet if I were just going to use it as a mouse pad?

So yeah, if you skipped all of that then all it means is that I'm back and hopefully-though not too likely- it'll stay that way.

-Freakdearts

strange dreams...

this morning when I hit the snooze button on my alarm I dreamt most vividly that I had 12 messages on deviant art... twelve! how can I remember that? and they were all either replies or comments... I remember one was slightly inflammatory and had something to do with the lines I used for my shading?... I think da has had too much of an impact on me to the point that I'm on it in my sleep... somehow that doesn't seem right... it was so vivid *shivers*

slight side point: tomorrow I start ballroom dancing lessons no, not waltz or foxtrot you twit! but salsa meringue or samba! a friend of my mother's is an instructor at a dance therapy workshop downtown and I was press-ganged into it, not that I'm resentful oh no I can't wait to get out of here and learn some moves or whether I've been doing it wrong all along... which I have most likely... I love to dance especially Latin I guess there's just something in the beats...having lived three years in mexico you'd think I'd pick something up by osmosis wouldn't you... but umm... well lets just say it's best if I don't get up if they play... it is still something I need to puzzle out for sure like a piece of tamarindo to get out of its shell

adios muchachos!

-the Revig

HAITI

There's not much I can do, but what I can do is to pray... I will pray every day for those affected by this disaster... I will pray for the lost that they won't give up... I will pray for the aide workers that they will not falter... I will pray for those living that they will continue to... and I will pray for all the people for better days...I will pray for Haiti, for prayer is not the least I can do, but the most I can do...

When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I will not forsake them (Isa.41:17).

HAPPY FREAKIN' NEW YEAR!!!

May the new year bravely bring to us what it will
And may we bravely bring to the new year what we will...

With Blue Violets in Her Hair

With Blue Violets in Her Hair by ~freakdearts on deviantART

a birthday Giftart for my younger sister... something not too flashy but elvish and elegant to go with her room... as usual I had been promising to finish this for about three of her birthdays with the progress being as follows

15th: head and shoulders, some hair, and a bunch of lines to find the rest of the picture.

16th: filled out the body and endlessly fiddled with the anatomy and dress which I still don't think I got right and gave her some sort of an environment at this point consisting of the mountains and forest... I think the wall was what stopped me here

17th: fixed her hands to look human and finished the background. added the pillars and ledge with a bit more of an idea of what I was doing. colored the blue parts and sky which was fun cause I got to use pastels although you can't really tell cause of the scanner...


so glad I waited so long...

This Was Halloween

This was Halloween by ~freakdearts on deviantART

I am the boy with the bleeding eyes
look into them once and I'll scream for your life!



Well it WAS meant for Halloween but the internet fritzed out and did not come back on til two days after the wretched day so this feels a bit out of place... just the leavings from spending practically the whole month working at a haunted house painting faces... I guess you could say it's a sort of halloweentown me... and perhaps he has something to do with boogie since he does have suits on his sleeve thing... I like how he looks like he's about to say "well what have we here?"

anyway sketched in mech pencil then colored with cheap colored pencils... oh and a bit of pen on his fingers

TOO MUCH BLACK!!! (don't know how many times I sharpened that pencil)

Zane--Red

Zane-Red by ~freakdearts on deviantART

some more zane nonsense... I just like this because of the blocks of black with the red... it's just so simple

if you even so much as utter the syllable; I will KILL YOU!

Zane--Further Development

Zane-further development by ~freakdearts on deviantART

The developmental sketch that led to the total redesign of Zane from some scruffy street urchin to something with a bit more attitude.

What really prompted this was an attempt to render his hair in a sort of naruto style where it was just the general shapes in a solid color without any strands showing except at the edges... I tried it out with his original haircut but it wasn't working so great... so I spiked things up a bit while keeping the main aspects and got this... something much more dynamic and bad ass.

I love grapes...

Zane--Portait

Zane Portrait by ~freakdearts on deviantART

a portrait of Zane in his new design since the, old one was rather too complicated... I don't really know why I bothered to draw him on such a large scale but since I am going to be doing a comic with his likeness eventually I needed to firm up his facial features more than just an aged sketch so I conducted this study... but I will give you the sketch that changed it... much more coherent than the original... and bad ass

I think somethings off here just can't figure it out... I was never too good at large scale work...

By Candles Light--Illo

By Candle's Light--Illo by ~freakdearts on deviantART

For one by one the fire is spread
Like a river streaming of flame
And a joy to my heart this sight sends
For my small light became night’s bane

--

An illustration for the first stanza of my poem By Candles Light [link] and a therapy peice while watching nauro... which took far longer than necessary since I suck at under lighting faces and making them look human... the mouth was the hardest part of it besides the lettering... I didn't really want it to look too finished as that would probably make it look as forced as the poem... but I just couldn't leave the face alone... meh


and MONOGRAM YAY!!!
loving the collar...

SCHOOOOLS OUT FOREVAH!!!

or at least for as long as I can tell...

yes that is right congratulate me for I have just finished entirely my highschool acedemic work which as far as I can tell means I HAVE GRADUATED!!! Yeah, I'm wearing my spanky pants! can you tell? that means this is a real special occasion cause I only save those for extra special occasions... *hem* don't worry they're just underwear, but besides that I also needed an excuse to restart the blog and this seems like as good as any since I am now a man!! now I'll go forth and conquer with the power of youth! NVRM that's still not right... pardon I've watched a bit too much of naruto for my own good....

no seriously I have so much time now I'm not too sure what to do with it... and there seems like theres always too much to get done in it... I never realized how stressful it would be not having to do any scholarly activity there's more time for what others need you to do than what you kinda want to do... sigh... still I am quite exuberant and I doubt that it will be dampened in a good while... I'm FREEE!!! I've always wanted to say that...

please standby for a megart upload... and maybe a bit of p-p-p-poetry... ogsh it's good to be back!

It's also beginning to look a lot like christmasss...

New Lives

well as much as I would love to blame my indefinite as of late silence on severe digital trauma(i.e. broken mashed fingers) I must be honest and say that lately I have been very boring and lazy and not very prone to be very internet social... but there are some beginings (and ending depending on how you look on it) that I must report upon so I have hauled up the old compose page just for such...

first is that my brother has been married now for about a week... to a lovely russian girl by the name of michelle... may they find greater love and happiness as they walk their new road together... here is some pictorial evidence of the fact..I have no idea why seeing my brother in a suit is so hilarious... :D Congrats guys!
.

Second: Melody has had her baby... may your life be full of joy and light as you care for another :D congrats love and sorry I haven't been in touch for a while... I'm waiting for some pictures, eh?;)


and thirdly... I'll be off to the fdtp this sunday for some much needed training in what it means to be a disciple, and an adult...hopefully I won't get myself into too much trouble or anyone else for that matter... :D This also means that I will be offline for twenty days as too much internet use is not encouraged, but you can follow the precedings on facebook here: [link] I'm bound to get in there someplace so be on the look out for this face:


woah yes that's right I also got a hair cut!(tx liela)


looking forward to the changes

-The Revig

two things I learned from jetskiing for 6 hours on monday

One: unless you want to get thrown off trying to stay on, lean into your turns...

and Two: unless you want to turn into a lobster put on a pound and a half of sunscreen!

My feet are still swelling from going from white to beet two days afterward...

district 9 is an awesome movie very complex with a great focus on the main character's character above all else...(I was rather impressed by his freindly exterior but harder underlying personality, slightly creepy too)special effects of course were very well done especially for the way it was shot... wish they could of done something a bit better with the ending though...kind of inconclusive... the whole thing raises interesting questions not really about racism but about how everything changes when something alien is introduced... especially something that is a burden and even potentially dangerous... it gives a whole new aspect to it as a good movie should...  

It's the dog days of august....

And I haven't even gotten in a pool this year... that has to be a bad sign...