Of TomSka and Tres Fest

IT'S. FINALLY. DONE. *dies*

*comes back to life* Hi. So here it is: the final result of three days trying to draw and colour Thomas "TomSka" Ridgewell. This was my first attempt at drawing and colouring on Paint Tool SAI. I tried making it as realistic as possible, but I pretty much failed, I think. *cries* But I'm still really happy with it! I just had to finish it today - I won't be able to complete my assignment in peace if I don't.

Anyway, the sudden  overwhelming urge to use TomSka as the subject of my first ever Paint Tool SAI drawing came three days ago, when Sky News decided to do a segment on Youtube's eighth anniversary. Tom was invited to speak live on Sunrise with Sky News about YouTube and how one could make a living out of posting videos. The show aired at 8:45 a.m. in the U.K. which was 3:45 p.m. in Malaysia. So I watched the show and spent most of the five minutes (sadly yes, only five minutes) he was on fangirling like crazy. About half-way through the interview I snapped a shot of my TV screen and tweeted it. A couple of minutes later, I get a notification saying five of the best words I had heard in a long, long time:

"Thomas Ridgewell (@thetomska) retweeted you."

*dies of overexcitement*

...and that's what prompted me to do it. :3

Now, about Tres Fest! According to their Facebook page, Tres Fest is a "music, art and food event for youth and young adults. This event is basically an event for up-and-coming artists, musicians, food entrepreneurs and special needs youth to 'strut their stuff'. This is also a 'green' event." I heard about it when one of my ex-schoolmates invited me for INTI's Pre-U Prom Night auditions. Now, I'm not from INTI, so naturally I don't consider myself eligible for these auditions. Besides, I can't sing, dance or play any musical instrument. So, I posted on the event's timeline explaining these things and further (jokingly) asking if I could "speed-draw on stage". So I was quite surprised when someone replied, asking if I could really speed-draw. I told him that I could draw, and I just needed to add the speed. He then sent me the link to Tres Fest's Facebook page, saying if I could really speed-draw, they would  like to showcase me as one of the talents there.

...man, I'm feeling lightheaded just typing about it.

I would really, REALLY love to go for Tres Fest. It sounds like a really cool event, someplace where I may be able to meet people like me. Plus, it would be a huge opportunity to show the rest of Malaysia my passion for art. I've made a decision, one that I've been thinking about for the whole day - I'm going to email them my pictures, and see what they think about them and if they'll give me a chance. They haven't released many details about the Fest yet, but when they do, I have my fingers crossed that I'll be a part of it. If you read this post, and if you want, please pray for my success. ;)

Song stuck in my head: The Yoshida Brothers' cover of By This River by Brian Eno.

A leave of absence

Hey guys. So sorry I haven't posted for a couple of days - my Contract law assignment is due on the 29th, so I've been a bit busy with that.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you guys know that I may not be posting anything for a while. This is because I'm a little busy with stuff - the assignment that I mentioned, as well as some other things. I should hopefully be back after the 29th with more drawings, though. So don't miss me too much, OK?? (JK I know you guys probably won't miss me at all. :P). I'll still be on Twitter and Tumblr, though, if you wanna chat.

Song stuck in my head: Humko Humise Churalo from the Hindi movie Mohabbatein. I have no idea why this song chose to worm its way into mind now, it's been ages since I watched the movie or listened to its songs.

DISCOVERIES!! :D

Yesterday and today, I discovered a couple of really cool things I can do with my phone (Samsung Galaxy Note) which could be really useful.
Discovery #1: GIFBoom
This is a free app for Android that allows you to create GIFs from... well... just about anything. Videos, photos, even other GIFs can be used, and the app even has a camera for you to take multiple shots to GIF your surroundings. I used the app to make a couple of random TomSka GIFs, and they turned out pretty darn good. Oh, and by the way, I now have a Tumblr account, where I'll share my GIFs and some random fanart in hopes that one of my favourite Youtubers will notice. If you like, follow me at inoueflame.tumblr.com.  ;D
Discovery #2: S Pen Digitizer
One of the essential tools of any digital artist worth their salt is a graphics tablet, usually manufactured by Wacom. I've had my eyes on one ever since I started drawing anime five years. Sadly, these are sort of costly, and since my parents were unwilling to finance me, I don't have one. :( So, for the past five years, I refined my technique using whatever other materials I had: pencils, paper, pens, highlighters, book covers and almost any other drawing surface I could get my pencil on, and more recently with my phone.
Just this afternoon, I randomly decided to use Google to see if there was any way to use my phone as a graphics tablet. Surprisingly enough, there was one app; a free beta app known as the S Pen Digitizer. The app allows you to connect any device that uses an S Pen (i.e. Samsung Galaxy Note 1, 2, or 10.1) to your computer via Wi-Fi and draw in programs like Photoshop with it - hence essentially turning it into a graphics tablet. I downloaded the app and tested it, and it worked like a charm!
Well.... maybe not completely like a charm. I'm not sure if it was the app or my laptop, but it was a little laggy - nothing serious, though. And drawing on a tablet is not as easy as it sounds - it takes quite a bit of getting used to. I tried drawing in Photoshop, but it didn't really work so well, so I switched over to Paint Tool SAI, which worked a bit better.
Today, I'll share the results of my discoveries: one of my four TomSka GIFs and a random drawing I did on SAI. The drawing could definitely have been better - I didn't get the chance to refine it as I had to go out somewhere - but I'mma share it anyways.

EDIT: I forgot to do the Song Stuck In My Head for this one! Oh well... I'll do it anyway.

Song Stuck In My Head: The Little Ships by Jean Jacques-Perry. This was the song used for the TomSka and Bing Dance on Youtube. Maybe I'll GIF that dance and post it on Tumblr.

Wolf of the Night

Hey guys, I tried posting earlier, but it didn't work, the app wouldn't let me post.(>.<) Anyway, I came up with another random (and somewhat graphic) poem to go with a drawing of a wolf I tried after Mark Crilley's style. It's a shortie this time, composed during Contract class. (Good news: my regular lecturer is back! \o/).

Eyes of gold, coat of grey,
The wolf of night hunts down his prey,

Tongue of red, fangs of white,
None can escape his hawkeye sight,

Bone of white, blood of red,
Its neck is snapped, its eyes are dead,

Eyes of gold, coat of grey,
The wolf of night has caught his prey.

*shudders*

Song stuck in my head: Saint of Salvation (Jeanne d'Arc's theme) from Warriors Orochi 3.

Seeds of Rebellion

Helloes people, I'm back after a 2-day hiatus!

I couldn't post on Saturday because I was in Ipoh the whole day (for non-Malaysians, Ipoh is a town in Perak, a state which is approximately a 2 hour drive from Kuala Lumpur). I went there for my family's yearly visit to a particular temple (I'm Hindu, by the way) and to see some of my mother's relatives. The day after that was the Hindu new year, so I was occupied with preparations for that. And today was my father's birthday!

So... yeah. About the drawings, they're based off the same line art, just with different colours. I drew this at one of my mom's relatives' house, and my mom's cousin's sons were peeking over my shoulder as I drew it. The colouring is an attempt at a 'realistic' eye colour effect. It's a little scary, no?

Anyway, I wasn't really sure what else to say, so a couple of minutes ago while I was thinking about it, I came up with a random, probably stupid poem to go with it. Here it is:

On a bitter midwinter's iciest date
A girl was born with an accursed fate

Her eyes burned with the Devil's fire
Her soul, a vessel for an evil desire

Destined she was to destroy the world
To cause chaos and entropy to unfurl

Shrouded in her mantle of death and decay
No mortal man could stand in her way

Yet out of the ashes of a world so dark
There arose a hero born to win her heart

Blessed with the power of Heaven's light
Destined was he to dispel her blight

The heat of his touch, the warmth of his words
Were unlike any she had felt or heard

Thus awakened an emotion she had never felt
So different from the despair of the pits of hell

Realisation dawned: is this true love?
A ray of hope from the heavens above?

She now saw a way out of the life she had known
And hence the seeds of rebellion were sown.

POETRY!!!! <3 (I don't even know, I'm too sleepy, it's really late here. See you tomorrow)

Song stuck in my head (this is something I'll add at the end of my posts from now on): Hairport by LilDeuceDeuce, from TomSka's Salon Shootout

....randomness

Hey guys. I really don't know what to say in this one, other than that it's been a pretty crap day for me. I'm feeling rather depressed for no apparent reason, it's raining (mind you, I normally like rain, but today it's just exacerbating my depression) and... stuff. But I do have a drawing for you guys. It's the first time I've drawn a couple kissing in.... a few years, methinks.

Mark Crilley is an amazing artist. Go check out his Youtube videos.

....come to think of it, these two kind of look like Neil Watts and Eva Rosalene from To The Moon. Have you guys played To The Moon? If not, go play it or at least watch someone play it; I watched Pewdie play it before playing it myself. It's a pixel game, so the graphics aren't great, but it makes up for that with some of the best game soundtracks I have ever heard, and a truly heartwarming story - seriously, you can't not be touched by it. Neil and Eva are two of the main characters of sorts and they fight A LOT - she thinks he's a moron, and he thinks she's weird. It's never revealed if they're in a relationship, but a scene towards the ending hints at it - not gonna spoil anything more, though.

Well... this post was longer than I thought it would be. As always, thank you for reading, and see you in the next post.

Custom Pokemon hoodies #3: Meganium

And here's Meganium! Sorry if it's a little messier than the others... the idea just came to me about an hour ago, and I just had to put it down on paper before it vanished. As you can see, I decided to make it a girl this time - mainly because I always saw Chikorita as a female.

Some people might see it as a little strange that I give a Pokemon a gender based on its appearance. I mean, I have no problem if the Pokemon is of the opposite gender, but I'm really happy when it matches the gender I give it. For example, I always see Cyndaquil and Totodile as males, and Chikorita as a female. Even with the legendaries, I see Suicune as a female and Entei and Raikou as males. Am I the only one?

Anyway, this concludes the first part of my Pokemon hoodie designs. I might draw the gen-2 legendaries (Suicune, Entei, Raikou, Lugia and Ho-oh) next - I don't know. If you guys have any suggestions for 1st and 2nd generation Pokemon (I don't know the 3rd generation and up very well), please feel free to Facebook message or tweet me at @inoueflame, and I'll try to draw them. Till then, see you in the next post!