Dreamscape

So is that Tieria or not? Eurgh, I'll have to wait until October to find out. By that time, I would have graduated from college, and will be proceeding towards my graduate programme either in HK or UK. What an uncertain future all twenty-somethings must suffer through. I'm definitely leaving LA, but I'll be sad to part with the environment here.

I won't miss the sleezy bastards who keep trying to speak with me in Japanese, or the uppity rich blokes on campus who seem to have money to flush down the loo. But then I love the constantly 17C weather, the loud music being blared from the frat house next door, and the element of unpredictability. Who knows if you're going to get mugged tonight, or have a double homicide next door? How will I be able to sleep without the LAPD helicopters circling around above me at night? Or the midnight fire engine sirens?

HK is just like a little greenhouse, where everything is so controlled and regulated. I felt as though I grew more in LA than I did in the decade I spent in HK before. Maybe after I'm done with everything I need to do I'll return to this city...
I must stop thinking such depressing thoughts! I'm in my early twenties, I should be excited and happy about going to new places and experiencing different cultures! I need to have the 'I-don't-care-about-whatever-happens-in-the-next-few-years' mentality! (In retrospect, I think there are some serious attachment issues here....as well the persistent fear of change).

PS: I had an inferiority complex a couple of days ago, when I realized I'm no long #1. But I've managed to get over it. First I need to finish my undergraduate stuff first, and worry later.

Work in Progress II

Lockon no more: it's Lock-off?!

Tieria, you cut your hair? Hahaha if anyone read the heading for this topic, you would realize it is a lame pun on Lockon's name....Lockon...Locks....Locks-off? But I've got to say, the hair looks good on him. At first my reaction was "eh?!" but then I gradually got to like it. It makes him look even more feminine than before (yes, it is possible!). And it's a sweet way for him to remember Lockon by. Shipping time!

Or was that actually him we saw in the epilogue for the first season? Some people claims that he emitted a very girly 'hmph' at the end, but then his voice was always a little unpredictable to begin with (not the seiyuu's fault; I am referring to the Tieria's constant language change). Ah well, I hope it is him. In retrospect, the last episode wasn't bad at all; despite the semi-amusing parts (that weren't supposed to be amusing), I liked the way they wrapped up some things but left us with a bit of a cliff-hanger too.

One thing: I wish they would break the trend of having a masked-man (Graham) on set. It was tolerable in Gundam Wing, even in Seed and Seed Destiny, but since this series is not set in a fictional universe....it takes a bit more effort for us to stomach the mask thing. I'm sure no one in the future would wear such a fashion faux-pas. And Ribbons being the mastermind doesn't really surprise me; but I was not expecting his male harem in the end. Why didn't he ask Tieria to apply for a harem spot?

I'm experimenting with new ways of colouring....instead of the usual flat-one-tone thing I have going on. I sort of like this style, so I'll keep trying it out for now.

Work in Progress

Work in progress; the four meisters together! And in school uniforms...I will change the designs of them later, but I just shaded it in now so I get a gist of what shape I want the outfits to look like. Lockon and Alle will probably not wear jackets, since they're the rebels/cool people. Setsuna and Tieria should be in the middle-school age bracket, so the rules are stricter for them...well, that was how it was for us. (Middle school uniform codes are enforced much more often, whereas when we're in upper school none of the teachers cared anymore).

Tomorrow is the season finale, and I have a feeling more people are going to die. I just hope the producers don't leave us with a cliffhanger...pish, who am I kidding? We all know they'll end on a note where questions will be raised.

Scribbles IV

Drawn and coloured completely on Open Canvas 1.1. Tieria is all thanks to Koga Yun-sensei's creative genius...I swear, the Gundam franchise hired her to design the new characters just to recreate what happened to Gundam Wing in the 90s; an endless sea of fangirls, fawning and eagerly conjuring up fanart and buying all the Newtype/Animage magazines in their sight.....I remember when several of my DA friends went crazy over the Wing series. (I was too young at the time to understand the politically charged plot and all...heck, I was in Grade school! I didn't even know fandom existed...).

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Asides from the severe out of character-ness in this image, as well as the poor spelling (is that how you spell マイスター?)....yup. I forgot my point. I messed up on Halo here, but I'll definitely fix it if I ever get around to inking this image. I think this is the first time I drew all four of them together...no wait, I did it before but never posted the image on the blog. My bad. I'll fix the proportions and misc. issues later.

Spring Break: finale!

Guess what I spent the say doing? If your answer is "not working on things she should be", then you're 100% correct and I'll give you an A+. Instead, I went out to lunch with a chum I actually enjoy chatting with, and did a load of grocery shopping. But now I'm moping and worrying about the many ways my professors would grill me once they find out how much work I didn't do. But come one, I'm in college, and this is my final Spring Break; surely they understand...? Fat chance.

No point in whining right now; I'll just have to work extra hard this coming week to compensate.

Funny thing: I just learnt what Easter was all about today. I always thought it had to do with chocolate eggs, chickens and rabbits. (I blame my confusion on the Australian education system...those darn public schools make us skip class and dance around to a whimsical little tune every Easter so the kids are always confused about the meaning of the day). Apparently it is something religious. And therefore should be something irrelevant to me (I'm atheist)...nonetheless I ended giving my friend a box of chocolates. Hell, Easter isn't about religion for me anymore, it's about Cadbury and their marketing skills.

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I drew this image on Open Canvas 1.1 (I have the later version, but the damn thing keeps crashing...maybe it's just incompatible with my current version of Windows XP, but I refuse to go into the realm of Vista). It's of Tieria looking girly as heck...I haven't finished it yet, but here is a cropped portion so people can get the gist of it. I don't even know if I want to DA it at this point...I'm losing interest in submitting work on DA now. It was fun to get reviews/feedback, but then I really just enjoy drawing my myself and not the gratification of others.