Lordy.

Okay, feeling a wee bit better.

Sketchcrawling w/ Critters

Wither that extra hour Saturday night, folks? Unfortunately I used mine to read "a few pages" of this book and unfortunately didn't put it down until WAY past my bedtime. Yes, I know there's a movie, but I'm on this reading kick lately. Nice change from software manuals. I'm on shelfari, too, if anyone wants to share reading lists.

So Sunday I barely got my red-eyed ass outta bed and down to the 16th (and my second) Sketchcrawl.





I think the last time I went to the zoo to sketch(in SF? Or San Jose, I can't recall) I was way looser, everything was 2min, gestural, more dynamic. This time there were a lot more sitting "poses", not animals in motion as much as repose.

In particular, I spent more time than usual rendering that orangutan. He was the last animal I sketched. The sun was high in the sky, casting hard shadows on the this massive oran who almost dwarfed the large hot rock he leaned wearily against, while a smaller oran sat near and distractedly picked at the elder's matted hair. I stood there, squinting at the sun reflecting on the pad, drawing, trying to tease out the tiny eyes flanked and shaded by all that old, heavy flesh, and therein... man, just something so sad and heavy, as if he'd long forgotten exploring lush canopies, and resigned himself to sitting in the sun, and look through all the pink, hairless standing monkeys before him. Infinitely tired.

Okay, maybe that tragic impression was aided my my sleep addled brain on a breakfast of diet coke, but for a time I felt kinda awful that he was in that zoo at all. Yes, it's better than being poached or hunted, but that zoo seemed just too small for him.

Or her. I didn't exactly check.

But do check Sketchcrawl.Com. Enjoy!

Photoshop Class "Notes"

Actually that class is worthwhile, since even w/ my extensive PS use, I haven't really explored CS3 and all the cool goodies. But, you know, can't. stop. drawing. Tho frankly, at least for me, if there are copious doodles on the sidebar of my notes that means that my synapses were firing, and I end up absorbing more than you'd think. However, if my notes are just writing, in all likelyhood the info went straight from ear to pen, like sieve, catching very little lasting info in me noggin.

Putting the "fine" in late fines...

So, I've got a classmate who has a nice driver's license photo. She's giving a look which is definitely "hot librarian"-- looking down over glasses just so. Which course chaps my hide, since after a run of imho cute license pics, my last one looks like I've fallen out of an oil tanker on the freeway at 80mph, most of that on MY FACE. All kinds of greezy and tow-up.

Anyway, enough about that card (which I swear, I will conveniently lose and have to replace once my hair grows out), let's get back to the HotLib phenomena. When I was a "cubicle jockey" in The Bay when I was all about the slacks, pumps, slim jackets and such. And now that I've slipped into a uniform of graphic t, jeans and $10buckwannabechucks, I miss those chic-er, sleeker days.

Didn't know the extent of my longing until I saw these:

And the frugality persists, as the ones on the left are knockoffs. Hell-o!

I wish I could rock these. But I lack the occassion...and the nerve, frankly. Oh, and the gams. I got more calves* than a dairy, y'all.



I'm no fashionista. Yes, there are MUCH more important things in life, but sometimes I just feel like I need to "step up my game", for myself. As much as I love those first wonderful summer days, fall can't come soon enough for me. The kicky jackets, the boots, hats and leather gloves? Bring 'em.

*If you reading this, sweetie, I know you still digs them. God bless yer blind ass.

Hair Warrior

As seen walking down the street near school. Like a black Marge Simpson. Fantastic.

Now, if they are training the next wave of "Hair Warriors"
at school, then I take back what I said earlier. Okay, they're still kinda scary, but I respect a talent for the audacious.

There was an episode of "The Pursuit of Excellence" on PBS about an international hairstyling comp. that *wasn't* hair wars, but entertaining anyway.(A team of born-again Christian hairstylists? Unexpected!). Did anyone watch this series? Basically one hour documentaries about competitions-- the synchronized swim team at Santa Clara U., Midwestern ferret shows, the aforementioned hairstylists. I tend to love this particular doc genre (and comedies in the same vein), mostly because the good ones move you beyond obvious humor to a place of respect... whatever weird thing they do, they love it, they want to be the best at it, or at the least better than they are now, bless 'em. Good stuff.

Sketches from Tahoe

Chipmunk & Squirrel.

Afrobellas...

One good thing about trekking through campus is people watching. Saw this lovely lady getting a ride home from school. In the sea of jeans and t-shirts, she definitely stood out. That's the way to rock an end of summer look.

Another take. Full disclosure: there was no mp3 player. I'm just on a "drawing people with headphones" kick.

On a side note, I visit afrobella.com on the regular. Nevermind I'm not black. She's a good read, she features positive female role models, she's a Jill Scott stan (hello!), and in-between the make-up & music reviews she'll bring up news stories that haven't gotten mainstream coverage. You know how sometimes you pick up a beauty mag and you feel guilty about it afterwards? Afrobella's the antidote.

Is there an AsianBella out there?

Ch-check-checked it out.

My Man and me (and his friends) caught the show two weeks ago.
Beasties @ Berkeley Review.

MCA is some kinda Mr. Rodgers Jr. And it works for him.

Ad-Rock came dressed as Kevin Pollack on Season 1's "Celebrity Poker Showdown."

Mike D. The Jew Fro. He's one house coat and 10 cats away from being her.

First hiphop show where there wasn't ENOUGH bass, at least to my ears all the way up in the The Grown Folks section (again). Oh, and props to the drunk old white dude who was dragged out of said section while yelling "Play 'Girls'!" over. And over. Nice.

Ima bout to cut a bitch...'s hair.

Actually, I'm not sure what cosmetologists do (Is is hair, right? Make up, too?), but I do know that the cosmo students at my school scare the beeejeeebus out of me.

At least I hope they are cosmetology. Could they be nurses? "You'd better heal up or I WILL HURT YOU."

1,2, OMG

It really is.

I'm finding IT to be like a damn addiction I can't quit. Doesn't help that I've found another enabler. At this moment I'm looking at a ream of pre-punched animation paper and wondering if I want to "bounce that damn ball again". The f-ing horror. God help me.

Puffer Fish Sold as Salmon

"Unscrupulous vendors in Thailand have been selling meat of the deadly puffer fish disguised as salmon, causing the deaths of more than 15 people over the past three years, a doctor said Thursday."
AP via SFgate.com

Now what?

Bye, "Aunt"

Interrupted "visits" are annoying.

Aztec Archer

Historical accuracy? Bah. :-P WIP. Dig.

I'm having fun, k!

Octo Girl 2 WIP

Cropped snippet of upcoming paint, work-in-progress

It Can Only Get Better

In drawing, as in life, it'd be better if I had a planned a little.

Yes, still have that movie on my head.

Let's hear it for the boy!

I admit this looks like "young dentist fly in love" at first glance, but anyway a friend of mine is back in the "swang of thangs", and deservedly so.

IMdropping? Or Girls bearing Gifs

Okay, how do I get a gig creating "audibles" for Yahoo messenger?

In the process of a YIM convo w/ My Old Friend, I started replying to his messages with spur-of-the-moment gifs(thank you photoshop and a wacom). Enjoy(?) them here, w/o explanation or context.

KWDT Part the 6th
"Cat with ear mites"


and 7th

Big Leg Girls of the World UNITE

AH summer, I'm loving it. Run and hide, skinny b!tches!

In the cans: Fela Kuti