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!

Custom Pokemon Hoodie #2: Typhlosion and a little chat on Pokemon strategy

And here's the hoodie design for one of my favourite Pokemon, Typhlosion. As you can see, the guy wearing the hoodie looks a lot cheekier and more mischievous than Feraligatr's model.

I'm still stuck with Meganium's design, though.

Since I don't really have much else to say, I'm just going to talk about my Pokemon-catching strategy. This applies to Pokemon Crystal, which is my favourite Pokemon game, but I guess it can be used in Gold, Silver, HeartGold and SoulSilver too. It's definitely not the best out there, but it works for me.

Cyndaquil is my starter of choice. This isn't just because he evolves quicker than the rest (which he does) or because I just like Fire Pokemon (which I do), but because he's strong in the first few battles, especially at Sprout Tower in Violet City. In contrast, Totodile is weak in Sprout Tower, and Chikorita is weak in Violet Gym.

One of the first Pokemon I catch is something to fight my rival's Totodile with. In Crystal, this would be a Bellsprout from the area around Violet, but in Gold or Silver I would wait until after beating Falkner before heading south to catch a Mareep. I still catch a Bellsprout anyway, though, to trade with the guy in Violet for his Onix.

I never catch any Bug Pokemon in my games - mostly because they're pathetic. When I head through Ilex forest, I usually either run away from most encounters, or one-shot those little pests with Quilava's Ember.

Whitney's gym used to be a bit of a problem for me. I could take out her Clefairy OK, but I used to get owned by her Miltank's
Rollout. I finally solved the problem by catching an Abra north of Goldenrod and trading it to the guy in the Department Store for his Machop. The Machop usually ends up being one of my stronger Pokemon.

Sudowoodo is the first forced wild Pokemon encounter im the game. As a rule, I try catching every forced wild Pokemon I encounter (Sudowoodo, the red Gyarados, Suicune and the Snorlax in Kanto), regardless of whether I use them or not. I usually get the Sudowoodo, but I don't always include him in my party.

I don't usually catch a Water Pokemon until I need to Surf. At that time I usually catch a Krabby using a fishing rod in Olivine City, and I make it my HM slave until I can go to the Lake of Rage and catch the red Gyarados there. This is also around the time I would catch and train a Flying Pokemon (usually either a Hoothoot or a Noctowl because Pidgeys are wimps) so I can beat Chuck and learn to Fly.

Suicune is a Pokemon I absolutely MUST catch at all costs. I usually stock up on Potions and Ultra Balls and save before I battle to increase my chances of success. Weepinbell is a huge help here: my strategy is to keep using Sleep Powder, then attack until Suicune's nearly fainted before attempting the catch. Once caught, I teach her (I don't know why but I always see Suicune as a female) the Icy Wind TM from Pryce to use against Claire's Dragon Pokemon.

And this is the team I use for the Johto journey. My final six in the Hall of Fame are usually Typhlosion, Weepinbell (or Ampharos), the red Gyarados, Suicune, Machoke, and one other Pokemon, usually either Onix, Noctowl or Sudowoodo.

I could go on forever about my Pokemon adventures; my Kanto quest, my search for legendary Pokemon and my fun with training Pokemon for the heck of it, but it's really late and I need to go to college early tomorrow to hand in my assignment. So good night - or good day as it may be for some of you - and see you in the next post.

Custom Pokemon hoodies #1: Feraligatr

Hey guys! Remember I said stay tuned? This is why!!

The idea for this came from one of the posts on a page I like on Facebook. One of the admins had drawn basic Pokemon like Cyndaquil, Totodile, Chikorita, Pikachu and Eevee dressed like their evolutions (Cyndaquil as Typhlosion, Totodile as Feraligatr and so on). It looked really cute, and as I thought about it I realised that there are Pokemon hoodies out there, but they mostly feature cutesy Pokemon like Pikachu and Mew. I suppose there's more demand for Pikachu than there would be for Typhlosion or Feraligatr, but that shouldn't mean that there should be no hoodies for those Pokemon, right? Right?!?!!

*silence*

....okay, then....

Anyway, I've decided to try and design hoodies for these Pokemon. I tried drawing Typhlosion (the evolution of my starter Pokemon of choice, Cyndaquil), but it didn't look that great. I then tried drawing Feraligatr, and it came out as close to perfect as possible. Here you go - for your viewing pleasure, a mysterious-looking guy in a custom-designed Feraligatr hoodie. I tried a new technique with this piece; I drew it by hand, then scanned it to my phone to colour and mess around with a little.

My humble apologies

Hey there guys, I'm so sorry I haven't posted for today. It's been a really busy day for me, and I've just been running around doing this and that. Now, I have to sit down and type out my Public Law assignment which is due on Monday morning. I do have a drawing in the works, though - it's gonna be the start of a series, but that's about all I'll say right now. ;) I should be able to post it tomorrow... maybe if I'm lucky, I might get it posted later tonight. So stay tuned...

More than they love themselves

I was going through a couple of art pieces on my laptop just now and found something I drew last year, after the case where two Somali college students beat up and killed a dog by tossing it down a manhole.

The student was supposed to be taking care of the dog (a female Dalmatian-Pit Bull mix named Kanilla) for his Jordanian classmate, who had to go back to his country and needed someone to take care of her. Kanilla's owner trusted him with her life, and he ended up committing such an atrocity. When Kanilla's owner returned, he was told that she had run away. His housemate, however, showed him a video of the Somali and his friend throwing her down the manhole and watching her drown.

The video and subsequent media coverage raised the hackles of animal lovers all over Malaysia and from all around the world. Amongst the lamentations of Kanilla's death were calls for the perpetrators to be deported back to their own country, and some even went as far as to say that they should themselves be killed. One individual said that someone should get the cameraman too - an understandable sentiment, as someone who had the ability to film the event should also have been able to stop them.

My opinion? No words could express the hatred I feel towards those scumbags who killed Kanilla. If it's one thing I hate in a person, it's sadism - I hate people who would willingly cause someone or something else pain just for the fun of it - "for the lulz", as they said in Smiley. I understand the killing of animals for food - in fact, I'm a proud carnivore myself - but I would never, ever, EVER kill another person or animal just because I can get a kick out of it. There's a reason why dogs are called 'man's best friend'; they are the sweetest, most compassionate creatures on earth. In fact, it has been said that a dog is the only thing in the world who loves you more than he loves himself. I don't have a dog of my own, but I have known enough dogs to know this to be true.

asdfanart

One of my favourite online cartoonists is definitely Thomas Ridgewell, better known as TomSka. He is the creator of the famous asdfmovie series as well as other animated shorts such as Mr. Cat and Drunk Science. Asdfmovie consists of a series of animated scenes with random and hilarious twists to them. There are currently six asdfmovies out, each featuring some well known recurring characters (like the 'I like trains' kid, the mine turtle and the flying pony) and scenes (such as the Die, potato! scene and the driving llama scene). The characters have even spawned their own songs, like "I like trains", "Mine turtle" and "Everybody do the flop!". Overall, the series is a must-see for anyone who wants to have some good, clean lols. Today's art piece features two of my favourite asdfcharacters, the I Like Trains kid and the Mine Turtle. (Sorry if I sound a little off in this post, I've had a rough day).

You can watch TomSka's creations here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TomSka

Congratulations PewDiePie!

Hello there! Did you miss me??

 *crickets chirping*

 ... okay, anyway...

 Yeah, sorry I haven't posted in a couple of days. I'm just friggin' exhausted a lot of the time and... the creative bug hasn't really bitten me that much lately. I'm kinda loaded down with assignments (Public Law is due in three days and I haven't started typing! Help!!!) and I'm experiencing the same artist's/writer's block I experienced a couple of years ago after my SPM. SO yeah... sorry.

 Anyway, about some time back, PewDiePie hit 6 million subscribers on his YouTube channel! If you don't know who PewDiePie (or Pewds as I like to call him) is then what the hell is wrong with you, have you been living under a rock for the past two years?!! he's a 23-year-old gamer from Gothenburg, Sweden who makes videos of himself playing video games (mostly scary ones) and his (usually comical) reactions to them. He is best known for his playthroughs of Amnesia: The Dark Descent custom stories, the Penumbra games, Slender: The Eight Pages, The Walking Dead and various pixel horror games like Ao Oni, Ib and Mad Father, as well as co-ops with other well known gamers like Cryaotic, UberHaxorNova and Sp00n. He currently lives in Italy (although he's in L.A. at the moment and will be for a month) with his girlfriend Marzia (also a Youtuber under the name cutiepiemarzia) and their pug, Maya. Right now, he is the seventh most subscribed Youtuber, behind Smosh, Ray William Johnson, Jenna Marbles, Ryan Higa, RihannaVEVO (Oh God, why?!) and Machinima. He's having a party in L.A. to celebrate 6 million bros, and being stuck on the other side of the world in Malaysia, I obviously can't be there. *cries*

I'm actually a really recent bro (Pewds calls his fans 'bros'), having subscribed to Pewds only last September. However, his videos have now become a significant part of my life, and it is a must for me to have my daily fix of Pewds everyday (hey, at least it's a healthier addiction than booze or drugs). I even had a huge crush on him (probably like most of his other female subscribers), which was obviously crushed when I learned he had a beautiful girlfriend. My adoration of him manifested itself in my art, a lot of which is PewDiePie fan art. In honour of his hitting 6 million subs (and partly because I didn't draw anything noteworthy today), I'm going to share one of my personal favourite fan art - a drawing of Pewds and Marzia which was based on a weird dream I had - but more on that later. For now, enjoy the art (this one's better that the rest because I drew it by hand and Photoshopped it) and stay awesome!

P.S. In the event that you're reading this, Pewds, I just want you to know that you're simply the best. Thank you for making me smile on gloomy days, for making me laugh till I'm out of breath, for bringing me close to tears at times and for introducing me to some of the best games I have ever played. I hope you stay awesome as you always have, and that you can continue living your dreams. Congratulations on reaching 6 million bros - the Bro Army has come a really long way in two years! Anyways, I love you, Pewds and.... just thank you. A thousand times over. *Brofist*

EDIT: As of this month (August 2013), PewDiePie has become the most subscribed Youtuber of all time, with more than double the subscribers mentioned previously.