Illust and Scribbles

Kidd with long hair....I think it'll suit him! Anyways, just another skin-toning exercise using Open Canvas. Can't wait until the new chapter comes out in Feburary....

'Niu' year...terrible pun, but won't damper the New Year festivities (which were virtually missing from where I am right now). Of course, just for superstition's sake I went out and bought some clementines (pronounced 'gum' in Chinese, which is the same sound for 'gold'...hence associated with wealth). I asked my family for my New Year predictions, and basically they said anything could happen. Which is what happens every single year anyways, so what they said wasn't very helpful at all.

But you can't go wrong if you work hard and head towards your goal! Ahh, I wish I had some good old Turnip cake right now....

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Blithe Bauhinia, random study.

A study of (longhair!) Kid, part of another image I am drawing of him right now.

Maka and Soul (the first time I drew him! Took forever). Sorry if the quality of the last two scribbles were a tad fuzzy, but I drew them in super-light colours on Open Canvas and getting them into JPG format (and adjusting the contrast) meant degrading the quality quite a bit.

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Another unproductive weekend. Spent 4 hours staring at two chapters, and I'm not even sure if I absorbed everything I read in those. I suppose my day didn't start off great; I did all the grogecy shopping I needed to do, but then I ran into a bunch of Asian student tourists at the Chinese Supermarket. I don't mind tourists under most circumstances, but when you're in a queue carrying a bag of rice (yes, an entire bag, a very heavy bag), you don't really have the patience to appreciate 6 Asian girls cutting in front of you just because one of their friends had a spot in front of you. There were no apologies, nothing (not even a smile-- those girls stared at me like I was a monster or something). After they were all outside the store, I finally paid for the rice and left to get my bike (back at the city centre graveyard), when the entire bloody road in front of me was blocked by the same group of tourists. Taking. Photos. Gr.

I actually had to walk around the entire tourist group by stepping onto the traffic road, and hoped I wouldn't get run over by angry drivers. I was a fool to go to the Chinese supermarket on Saturday....

Eurgh, I've been making a fool out of myself during tutorials nowadays. Because I no longer have a tutorial partner, it means I have to actually talk to the supervisor now; not that there is any problem with that (since the man is very nice), but I could never articulate my answers properly. I write an essay, but then I forget what I wrote a day after I hand it in.....that is appalling. My supervisor would say that I made a good point in the essay, and I'll be sitting there saying "what did I write again? Did I write that?"

And as for the research proposal, I'm having to revise it right now (causing me endless woes, believe me). But then I'm very confused with the process; not with the bureaucratic aspect of the application itself, but what my (potential) supervisor meant the last time we met. Was it a 'yes' or 'no' with the supervising business? I feel like there is some miscommunication going on....not a great start. I'm very worried...

...which resulted in me losing sleep a couple of nights this week. And since I wake up at 7am daily, it means by 4pm I'm a sinking ship. Felt terrible about showing up to the pub-meet looking like I got ran over by a bus, and not being energetic enough to sustain a conversation with anybody. Why is it so easy for me to create awkward situations in social gatherings? It's like I have a knack for it....of all the 'skills' in the world to have....

Scribbles III

Aein (younger) and Ue together, looking happier than they normally would. They're father and son, but not by blood (Ue adopted Aein at a young age). Ue may not look like it, but he is actually much older than Aein...

I was wondering; what happens to blogs and facebook pages when their respective owners die? I mean, we are the first blogging generation, and most of us are young-- but what will happen a couple of decades later when we're dropping like flies? The young people then would continue creating blogs, but would the older ones get archived, or would the owners of the blogging sites delete them?

Just a thought for today.

24 hour Review (image heavy!)

Waking up in the morning to see the frost-covered ground...apparently it has never gotten this bad during this time of the year before. The Big Chill really is here!

Tragically, my birthday present for myself is a pair of shoes to wear for the exams in June....yes, I bought myself a pair of exam shoes for my birthday. Because I'm the epitome of positive thinking during all festive occasions. Do excuse the crazy socks, I would have taken them off for the photo except my feet were bloody cold.

The canal was frozen; we could even see the rubbish at the bottom of the river bed. You wouldn't have guessed that people threw their bicycles in there...and there is no way to lift that out of the water since it was encased in solid ice.

The Meadows, with a thin layer of frost. It made the entire landscape that much more difficult to walk on....it was like wearing hiking boots and being made to walk of concrete. For over 40 minutes.

The pub we went to from the walking trail; took 40 minutes to get here and another 40 to get back, but it was worth it. I can't imagine another pub where the environment was so tranquil and the scenery so nice. Probably would have been better in sunnier weather, but drinking hot chocolate under gray skies made the entire day an walk seem worthwhile.

All in all, my birthday was great. Though I'm still not happy about growing up and getting older.
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Edel and Blithe

Kidd, in a drawing I did during the Summer 2008. It's half-inked, but I don't know if I really want to finish it off. Probably will, since I started it already, but I'll make some minor adjustments for the parts in pencil. This is one of the rare moments I still use traditional media to draw with; it's open canvas all the way now!

Was listening to the song as I was drawing, hence a semi-crazed-looking Kidd (with long hair!). The song was 'My Delirium', and it's damn catchy.

This is the image I most likely will ink on Open Canvas and colour. Started off as a simple doodle of Aein, but then I decided it might look nice if I added some extra stuff here and there..the reason behind the phrase on the bottom will be explained later.

Ice Sheets and Cakes

Edel, Blithe and Aein together again! Just a rough doodle of the three of them (I don't draw this group often enough), and a brief design guide of their casual outfits. I reckon the colour scheme will undergo some revision later on, since I was just randomly picking out tones on Open Canvas.

The reason for such a hastily drawn image? Well, I'm bloody tired. My friend finally did call me back at 12:40am in the morning (technically ON my birthday) and actually agreed to go on the nature walk. Which was fantastic; the Meadows were covered in frost, and the Cherwell and Thames were frozen as well! I didn't think I would be able to see children and adults skating on the ice....which really wasn't that thick at all (it cracked the moment my friend and I stepped onto the ice). And because of the cold conditions, it made the pub drink so much more worthwhile at the end.

The walk was fun, but I think I would have enjoyed the entire outting so much more if I didn't sleep at 4am and wake up at 8am. To make a correction on the title; I actually didn't get a birthday cake, but I had a lovely box of the Sainsburys Chocolate-covered-Cornflakes.....innovative!

Blue to Grey

Kidd and an unknown hand. I'll let anyone guess whose it is, because I have no idea.
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Asides from referring to my mood, the title also refers to the local weather. Blue skies are gone, and here are the grey skies of...who knows? I can't tell if that is snow or not. It is as though we're living under someone who is shaking their head and has a huge dandruff problem (the flakes are so small and thin that it looks like like skin....less disgusting than it sounds). The weather had warmed a little, and just after they fixed the heater by switching it off for entire days.

So it is my birthday tomorrow, and I'm feeling mellow about the whole ordeal. I even turned down an invitation to another friend's event just to hole up inside my room and avoid all human contact. And it doesn't help that my friend who promised to take me on a nature walk to a restaurant tomorrow is not answering the text message I sent...so I assume she's busy and won't make it tomorrow (ever the pessimist). I don't need presents, I just need some human company. On the bright side, if I do stay in college I might get some work done.

I need to get some grocery shopping done anyways. This has been a fairly hectic week, with the fridge breaking down and the cleaners having to throw away half my food (why would they keep the chicken meat but toss the vegetables if the fridge breaks down? Wouldn't the meat spoil first?). And then the Sainsburys Local cashier lady was awfully mean, telling me to "pay attention" (its a long story to explain, but I was pretty much dragged into it unwillingly). I don't mind the reprimand if it wasn't so condescending...or if it was justified. So now I'm having a personal boycott from the Sainsburys Local next to the cemetery, but there is the Sainsburys at Westgate.

Scribbles II

Kidd and Black Star together, another pose study. I couldn't think of another set of characters to put in their stead here....maybe Maka and Soul? But I started drawing Kid already, and I didn't want to change the character halfway through an image because it makes the end product look sort of weird...

Kidd; go snowboarding!

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So tired; I've been having trouble getting up in the mornings. Something about the cold weather that makes you want to cocoon inside your blankets for half a day. The weather here has improved a tad, though there is still not enough sunshine....one can tell when one's sunjar refuses to light up at night despite being placed next to the window the entire day. I've actually managed to start my proposal, but the more I read the more confused I get over the research question and I I feel as though everything is one big mess.

Hopefully I'll sort that out before term starts in a week....I wish I could work at night, but I tend to get sidetracked by alot of things....like drawing and catching up with BBC news. Must spend my friday reading and in the library cleaning up the proposal, since Saturday is the dreaded day and I won't have time to do anything academic then...curses.

Scribbles

An image of Aein, drawn in a realistic style. A relatively realistic style, since I can never manage it in the end. I have finally decided that Aein really has no gender; he goes with 'male', but nothing really defines him as such. (The more I read anthropological texts, the more I realise that gender makes no sense at all!) Aein also doesn't have any concept of gender differences-- he often gives hugs and is friendly to almost everyone, and Blithe and Ue are normally the ones to drag him away from people.

A small version of Edel's design in regular clothing; he seems to prefer neck scarves. And indeed that is he usual expression...smiling takes too much effort. I originally intended for him to be from a well-to-do family, except he dresses as though he only receives hand-me-downs. He acts indifferent and mature most of the time, but in front of Blithe and Aein he reverts back to having a sense-of-humour.

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Eurgh, the heater still doesn't work. They tried fixing all the heaters inside the building (since non of them seems to work), but it is now the evening, the workers are gone, and it is still freezing. I'm starting to enter my depressive rut again. Haven't had that feeling for several months now, thought it wasn't going to come back anytime soon. Hopefully meeting people again tomorrow will drag me out of thinking crazy lonely thoughts...

Adios, Colour in Life

Death the Kidd, in an outfit of my own design. Probably one of the last fully-coloured pieces (hence the title) I will be submitting for a while, since it is seriously time to start working again. Got another bout of reading done, and was going to head to the library only to find that it was TOO COLD OUTSIDE...so I scampered back into my room to take refuge under the blankets on my chair. Yes, I had to wear five layers plus wrap a blanket around me to keep warm inside my room. I hate to think what would have happened if I ventured out to Marks and Sparks to buy salmon...whilst biking (wind chill!)

The heater isn't working, and it is winter in the UK. What great timing.

Another pet peeve: the people in my building are returning after the break, and the kitchen was left in utter chaos. The right cooker was left covered with oil (I didn't know, so the moment I switched it on the entire thing started smoking), and the left cooker is sort of wonked up so it started beeping like crazy when I was halfway through cooking my curry dish. I ended up having to run upstairs to use the other kitchen instead.

And why do men leave the toilet seat UP after using them? Especially in places where the toilers are co-ed and we all have to share?

Shades in Pink

I actually managed to get something done today; so cheers to that. Here is a doodle of Aein, testing out the colour schemes again. I'm colouring in a style used back in my highschool days (from Oekaki-ing), and I must admit that it makes the image look a tad richer than the cell colouring style I'm currently favouring....meh, not sure which one to stick with, but plenty of time to experiment.
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In other news, I'm starting to have an aversion towards going to the city centre. The town isn't bad, just that the youths loitering around Cornmarket and imitating Asian languages (in the degratory way) isn't making the place seem any friendlier. Sometimes I wake up in the morning, and feel like just staying inside my blankets after knowing that I have to go to the Sainsbury at the centre (the bike trip in this freezing weather doesn't help either). Also doesn't help when the elderly population thinks you're incapable of speaking in English (and it is my first language, damnit!)...I felt dreadful because the elderly librarian was so embarassed when she presumed I only spoke an Asian language.

Another peeve; I know it is polite to call someone a 'lady'/'m'am' rather than 'girl', but I feel so old when people use that term when addressing or refering to me ;___; Either I look ageless (which works fine if I were in my forties), or I'm just OLD. It doesn't even make sense since I still get carded in pubs! I must be having such insecure thoughts since my birthday is in less than a week.

Another year, another 365 days wasted...

HAPPY 2009 partie 2

Tomorrow: Sainsbury trip, need those potatoes and toilet paper rolls. Then WORK. Must work! Must motivate self to work and not doodle all the time! It is now a day and a half after the new year, and I must say that I've been getting readings done. Not as much as I ought to have (I'm only doing 100pages/day), mind you, but still getting something accomplished is better than nothing. But none of those matter when there are still essays to sort out ;___;

But still not motivated enough to start on tutorial essay and proposal......eurgh. Must work up the energy tomorrow....that is, if I wake up tomorrow at all. I've had such erratic sleep habits for the past week...eurgh. Really can't work up the energy to form coherant sentences anymore.

ARGH I just realised that my friend's birthday is tomorrow....another friend's birthday four days later....and my birthday soon (really, really soon) after that....and then another friend's birthday....and from that point on there is a birthday every other day. Cluster babies, I say, cluster babies. Our parents did this on purpose.

HAPPY 2009!

First image to kick start the year! Just a rough doodle of Blithe, Edel and Aein. Spent my countdown inside the college pub, and no one knew when the countdown actually was, but we did it anyways and sang Auld Lang Syne nonetheless (except the person leading the song vanished half-way through, and we all got lost eventually....)

But I was delightfully surprised to wake up in the morning, seeing how I slept at 3am. But waking up and getting out of bed are two different things, and since it was minus 2 outside (I could see the frost on my bike from my room window...and every leaf covered with a layer of ice) and the heating doesn't work inside (nor does the corridor lights....or my room lights....or the toilet closest to my room....or one of the kitchen cookers.....), what else was I supposed to do? Brave the cold? Mind you, I just got better from my flu, so do excuse if I'm reluctant to chance illness again....

I don't really have any New Year's Resolutions, but I suppose I could motivate myself to finish my proposal, make a few more friends, play nice in college....or not. I suppose I could drop a pound or two, but in this cold weather I feel like having an extra inch of blubber might actually save my life. Bah, no point in being so ambitious; plus, no one really sees their resolutions through for more than a week or so. So for now, I'll just say....I'll do some work, and get things done. Once again, two very different things.

Happy New Year everyone!

(Now I'm off to puzzle out why there is salt on my Sainsbury Bourbons.....it's making my tea taste funny)
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Aein; pose experiment

Random character, random pose with dress

Kidd, in what was supposed to be balloon trousers but turned out looking more like a skirt... see the recurring poses? I'm trying to test their contexts and weight :D