Don't go to a University. Not yet. It's not that education isn't important but the way it is now, if you are male, and god help you if you're white, go to a trade school or look for tutorials online and do your own research. It's cheaper and you'll stay more sane, just be sure to know what the hell you're doing.

In all seriousness though I'm getting really aggravated and annoyed at being told that "women are oppressed in modern western society."

Really? Are you sure? last i check guys get the dicks snipped at birth (which should be a choice) hardly ever get custody of their kids, get harsher prison sentences, die more often from jobs and get sent to the front line.

"But women are objectified through advertisement!"

So are men. Ever look at Nautica or Polo ad? Guys in it got money, looks and usually a 6 pack. Next.

"what about sexism in the gaming industry and among gamers?"
When it comes to online gaming Welcome to the fucking internet. Get used to it. As for the industry it took a long time before gaming wasn't strictly marketed to boys. I'm talking a few decades.

"The pink tax!"
...Products geared towards women have more ingredients and tend to use higher quality stuff than guys for the most part. Want to save some money? Buy some guy shaving gel. Has the same function just doesn't smell as flowery.

Look i don't care how people live their lives until i'm being told that me and things that i like are what they aren't. It happens with everything like Art, music, and television. Feminism is the new religion and it needs to die in my opinion. Stop teaching that as fact and keep it as a, although somewhat deluded, perspective on things or as a thought experiment.

I'm still alive guys no worries.

I'm in college and working on some new art kind of like the "Base go Boom" and adding more effort into it with some...interesting results. Graphic Design is still what my degree will be in but i'm also looking and reading up on User Interface design and User Experience design which interestingly enough the books emphasize communication. This gave me pause...paws..hehe...on how to portray and communicate aspects of characters in my work. Granted i do that with one character but why not use that as much as possible? Not only that why not instead of using thought bubbles, display their thoughts through little nuances and gestures.

Anyway i'm moving from a university run domicile to a more privately owned one and getting a job to pay for it. For once living on my own like an adult while going to college full time so my inking of recent work will have to wait breifly for now.

I have people tell me that on the random occasion.

I dont know if it's the self doubt that has plagued me since long before high school or my incredibly short patience but i keep running into other students or people that remind me to try something and how fast i either pick it up or re-learn it.

As cheesy as this sounds i don't give myself any credit when it comes to art or music. It could be that i see it all the time so to me it's like, "ugh..that could look so much better." Then on here or DA i see the digital masterpieces and think," there's no way i can figure that out."

This is also considering i haven't had a lot of training or practice with any photoshop or computer art program. I did take a class or two on it almost two years ago and the college i go to at the moment doesn't have a degree program in graphic design or digital media. I also haven't had access to it for at least the same amount of time. I probably wont have a lot of chances to practice with anything other than CS2.

I'll admit that i do get rather frustrated with how slow and long my progress is with PS when i have people saying, "Oh its so super easy!" Yeah that's like explaining calculus to an 80 year old country bumpkin. Riiiiiight.

With that in mind i also have been incredibly indecisive in how i want to approach placing my art into the computer. As weird as i am i like to draw on paper. Drawing via tablet still feels really really weird.

But back to my original thought:

I was walking through campus and saw a few students inking a 18x24 picture for their design class and saw one who had clean lines using micron pens. It got me thinking about trying to draw in blue pencil and then inking it again. My Redwolphe picture where he's sitting on a roof is an example of that. As i was inking another picture i thought i'd screw it up but it had cleaner lines than i expected. I'll try to keep that up as it has rebuilt what little confidence i do have left.

Been a while since i've been on here so i've got a quite a bit to sort of dump into my gallery. don't worry it's mostly pretty good stuff. At the very least it shows how much i practice and what i usually practice on.

If anyone has some tips on how to link one's paypal account to here or how to do commission transactions on here let me know because to be honest i have no damn idea.

On that note i am up for art trades and commissions if anyone wants one.
I'm not doing color pictures yet because I am not satisfied with the quality of my coloring skills but I am working on it and about to look for classes that will help me. I am also willing to take any tips at all on my art. Be as informative or as cruel as you feel you need to be but give good explanation as to why otherwise i'll just ignore everything you said. ^^

But anyway yeah commissions for sketches are available.

That i stabbed my old emo self and decided to kick some metaphorical ass because that emo kind of thinking got me nowhere. So i started questioning, "why wasn't i worth anything? What made me so much lower than anyone else? I can play guitar, draw and express myself without using violence toward others. People dont like me? fine fuck em. I'll find those who do." And thats pretty much it in a nutshell ^^

Hey all who may not notice this, but if you do...hooray ...

Lately, I've been feeling like the odd man out again. My friends all got significant other and i haven't had one since high school. I know what your thinking "oh great another emo douche bag."
I know it was my own doing cause i thought she could do better. at the time i hardly had any time for a gf and i was just starting college. She then went out with one of my former buds but i think i kinda deserved that. so i didn't care. But usually around this time of year i feel like this and i don't know why. It just feels like i don't relate to anyone enough to even HAVE a relationship. It's pretty sad, I'm normally a happy guy, just quiet. And somehow i appear intimidating, but being six four probably doesn't help. It's like I've been erased or slowly being erased as i type this. Like the ghost picture i put on here. At least i think i did. oh well any way, it just feels like i meant to be the lone wolf on the pack of friends that i have. Sure they help me out and stuff, but it just...*sigh*... i don't know, just that i'm supposed to be alone on almost a constant basis. Saddest part is I'm USED TO THIS!! I don't know what it is exact;y or why i keep feeling like this even though i know i really shouldn't...ever. there are other people with bigger problems than mine, but i think getting this out will help at least a little bit and everyone i know watches my DA account and this would make them ask questions that i don't feel like answering. this journal will be much more private and something i can randomly rant in without people constantly wondering if I'm okay. they worry too much about that as it is. Sorry for wasting your time... :)