Henceforth, all times will be in CET (GMT +2, EST +6, PDT +9), so I don't have to type as much. Yeah, I'm lazy.

Streaming this Thursday at 19:00 till 24:00, joined by DaXzOr at 21:00. I will be continuing the Burst trade and perhaps some general derping, Developing a consistent construction of Banzai's facial features. Come in and see what the fuss is about.

CM ~

Going to stream some free doodles to save you the excessively plodding state of my current project drawings (Winstar trade, Jensin Picture, B-day picture for my friend (holy sh!t I need to make some headway on that! and Banzai) picture). Derping (probably just some random Banzai expressions for the ref) will ensue. If you can stomach the aimless drawing and bantering then come right in and see if I can entertain you!

CM ~

Streaming on August 16th: a bit earlier than I stated last stream: 16:00 CET. Going to continue working on Winstar's stream, hopefully on a cleaned sketch. The rest is up to my mood of the moment. Feel free to come in and chat along!

CM ~

Streaming tonight at 19:00 CET till about 23:30 CET. Trying my hand at a little colouring experiment and random derping. If you feel like it come in and derp with me.

CM ~

Decided to move my next streaming session to Wednesday, taking a bit of a breather on Tuesday. Time will remain the same as always, 19:00 CET. I will be working on Winstar's trade, and maybe do some additional work on the Banzai and Jensin drawing. So if you feel like it, come in and chat up on stuff!

CM ~

I'm going to stream today at 19:00 CET, hopefully with Chanrom. I will be streaming random sketches, most probably woking on a Jensin and/or Banzai sketch. Come in and have a good time with me!

CM ~

Tonight I'll be streaming some anatomy practice, and make some pose sketches, also doing some inking later on. I might be multistreaming, so possible 18+ warning. If you feel like it, feel free to come in and have a good time!

CM ~

Tonight at 19:00 CET (yes, this time I'll make sure I will not be late), I will be streaming some doodles for a few hours, primarily inking the chibi character birthday collection, and perhaps some arm anatomy practice. I might or might not have somebody to talk to in Skype and/or to multistream with, so possible 18+ warning! That said, come in for the fun and relaxation, as I toil away with pencil and paper.

CM ~

Friday, July 31st at 19:00 CET, I will be streaming some doodles, and generally have a good time. I won't be streaming anything in particular, just leisurely derping around. So if you like, you can come in and derp along with me, start the weekend on a good note! See you guys then!

CM ~

Edit: Make that a 19:30 CET stream ^.^;.

I will be streaming on Tuesday the 28th at 19:00 CET. I will be streaming some of my birthday chibi doodles and I also want to be practicing anatomy, focusing on arm muscles. I hope to see you there, to have a cozy good time. And just to plug a good friend of mine, if he will be streaming, take a gander at Chanrom's stream!

CM ~

4 weeks of virtually no obligations, get in!

Well, not entirely free of obligations, but still... I'll be finishing up some doodles and devoting some time to drawing, streaming, and see if SGDQ brings anything interesting. I'll be de-stressing and going on days out. Hope the weather plays along.

Speaking of streaming, Sunday July 26th at 19:00 CET I will be streaming the inking of my chibi birthday doodles and perhaps add some new ones to the roster. I might also be working on my trade with Winstar but I currently am reviewing whether the background in the picture should be the intended way to go. You're more than welcome to join me and have a good time!

Well, short and sweet. I like this. See you around later!

CM ~

So I got a new PC, and I'm already liking the improved performance this baby gets. I can finally play Steam games without a hitch and it finally gives me the possibility to stream my drawing work! I'm still working to get my old trusty programs back up, but I'm already chuffed about the speed with which things are going on this PC.

Speaking of streaming, the set up for streaming my doodling around is finally complete (thank you Thor!) and I can basically start streaming at any time. Just got to work up my gut to actually start streaming. Luckily I will be streaming my inaugural stream with VeraMundis who has done this before. I will be streaming on Picarto at about 6:30 PM CET till about 9:00 PM. I will be streaming my part of my trade with Winstar. You're more than welcome to join!

That's all for now! See you all around later, in the stream possibly.

CM ~

It's been a while. How are you doing?

As of very soon I will be uploading sketches and WIPs more frequently in the Scraps folder. They'll mainly involve anatomy practice and character design, with the odd different subject interspersed. If anyone is interested in how I approach my drawings, see my progress, find that I'm going about it the wrong way completely - in that case you're free to CONSTRUCTIVELY point it out AND suggest a solution - or just like to see random doodles, the Scraps folder is the way to go.

I have one more request to go, but afterwards I feel like working with trades. Now don't get excited, I will be only doing trades with friends and when I'm the one initiating them. I also suggest that I produce my part of the equation first, I'm rather a slow one. This way it keeps me drawing, it's good practice and I find it a good way to maintain steads with my friends or future ones. I'll also be doing on of them at a time. The first one will be with Winstar, where I will be drawing his character Burst.

Three weeks from now I'll be taking a month off, and do fun things in and around home. I'll be drawing, gaming, going to museums, and other sorts of things I like. In short, I'll be on more often and I'm open for conversation and interaction. If you see me by then, drop me a chat, and have a good time. I'll try to keep my lame puerile puns to a minimum and try to read up on things like games and news factoids to actually have something to say. And who knows, we might achieve more than just idle conversation.

As you might already be aware, I'm popping up in other artists' stream on Picarto, and practice idle banter at best, and make lame or downright awkward wisecracks at my worst, for which I apologize to the particular artists and viewers, I will try to keep it to a minimum in the future. I'm having good fun in the chats regardless and watching art developing in front of my eyes. And I'm thinking of joining the artist ranks. I have questions though, dear readers: I have no cam to capture me doing work on paper. What (web) cameras are good ones to buy? And once I have my camera, what should my setup be, software-wise, to display the footage on Picarto? Personally I would like to be able to talk and have my music playing in the background? If readers would like to respond, please be a expansive as possible, I'm not the most tech savvy Internet roamer on the planet. Thanks in advance to any repliers!

And this one is more for the Dutch people around here, as I was thinking of organizing some sort of draw meet. Just come into contact with great artists, have a good chat, have fun drawing together, and exchanging ideas. With this journal I would like to gauge whether there is any interest for such a thing in any sort of way. If I'm set on doing one it won't be a grand or well organised meeting, as I would like to keep it simple. If you read this, and might be interested, please leave a note in this journal.

Well, that's about all I have to say for now, I'll see you all around later, you guys have a good one.

CM ~

Chalodillo's now very belated Birthday picture is now nearing completion. The lines that needed to be inked are inked, lines that need definition are defined, and greytones are now being applied, all that's left after that is shading. I'll estimate it'll take roughly another week when I can present the completed picture.

I'm also going to do a trade with Winstar, featuring his character Burst. Since I'm such a sluggish artist I resquested him to wait on his part until I'm done. I got a rough idea as to what I'm going to show, but I'm still figuring out how my somewhat realistic style is going to affect a cartoony character like Burst. After this trade I might do more. Some more frequent drawing might do me good!

Also, I found out about art stream sites like Picarto, and I must say I find them really interesting and motivating! I frequently pick up my current drawing and draw alongside streams of artists that I follow and have a jolly chat with the viewers to boot. Perhaps if I get a new PC in the next year, I might even setup a stream channel of my own, although, does anyone know whether streaming footage of artists working with pencil and paper might produce good visuals to the viewers? If you do, please let me know!

And hello! 2014 has been a turbulent year for me, what with moving to live on my own, switching jobs, different people, and sadly I came down with a burn-out, one of which I'm still recovering from today. It resulted in sleepless nights, several panic attacks, and the loss of my job. While I do have my old job back, this is a road with bumps and highs and lows, exacerbated by my autism. Yay. Luckily I have friends, family and professional help to make recovery slightly less rough.

Well, that's that in a nutshell, as it's kind of late here, and I need to hit the hay! See you all around later!

CM ~

It's been a long time. And I'm not going to apologize for it.

Let's face it, I'm just not one to produce drawings on a regular basis. Life and its many attractions and formalities are avid time consumers of mine. And my insecurities and hesitations around drawing and the facets around it do frequently stand in the way of any semblance of rapid progress. I do have a drawing buddy of sorts, so progress is regularly being made, and talking about it with him is sort of "therapeutic", I find. Maybe I ought to find more people willing to talk...

Anyway, the definite version of "Some Like It Hot" is nearing completion. A few more shading here and there and I'll call it finished. Despite water damage to the paper I'm pleasantly surprised the scanner catches next to nothing of this. Expect it sometime around the end of next week when I'll force my drawing buddy to scan this for me...

Because as from tomorrow I'll be embarking on a week's vacation at sea with said drawing buddy and friends. I've been told the sights are beautiful and the bungalow was cheap so let's hope I'm in for a treat - if only the weather won't suck so bad next week as it did this week. I'm not yet sure what things we'll be doing over there, but damn skippy that I'll be taking a whiff of the sea and if weather permits, take a swim. Hopefully the booze-happy adolescents that floor themselves over there on a yearly basis are back in the school benches, so we can enjoy the scenery without tripping over passed out beer-guzzlers.

Well, that's all. See you later (Next week's Friday if all goes well)!

CM ~

I'm slowly getting back into the groove of picking up the pencil and either working on a picture (the WIP of which can be found here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3859273/) or doodling a random character design. The last few weeks I had uncoordinated bursts of creativity which netted me a threesome of decent to very satisfactory results. Here's towards keeping this trend going in an upward trend, wouldn't you agree?

The last nine-ten months I just couldn't find the drive to pick up a pencil and draw. It has always been and will always be a pain in the butt to recover from the notion that my art style just isn't good enough or doesn't evolve the way you want it to. In this case, the diversity of my style, or so I think, the lack thereof. I know it's cliché dramatics, so I won't go too deep into it. Let's just say that when I find my way of building a character not rewarding anymore, withdrawal comes crashing in. And it's a tough bitch to dispose of.

Picked up on Dungeons & Dragons last autumn. Before, I never really was into RPGs. Man, did it ever grab me by the balls (Thanks, Chtulie ;)). I find 4th edition to be refreshingly simple to grasp and remarkably varied, though having said that, some monsters have by dumbing down their attacks lost some of their iconic status. So far I with a couple of friends played through a predominantly battle-orientated campaign with a paladin, and I'm about to embark on an alternate campaign with a different set of characters. Hopefully there will be a bit more RP'ing and puzzle solving, although I liked the battles all the same (I'm simple like that).

And TsunaCon 2010 and Elf Fantasy Fair 2010 happened. It was very nice (especially EFF) to be there, taking pictures, drawing a bit. Go find some videos of it on YouTube, I'm sure there are some available on there.

Ta ta.

I'm slowly getting back into the groove of picking up the pencil and either working on a picture (the WIP of which can be found here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3859273/) or doodling a random character design. The last few weeks I had uncoordinated bursts of creativity which netted me a threesome of decent to very satisfactory results. Here's towards keeping this trend going in an upward trend, wouldn't you agree?

The last nine-ten months I just couldn't find the drive to pick up a pencil and draw. It has always been and will always be a pain in the butt to recover from the notion that my art style just isn't good enough or doesn't evolve the way you want it to. In this case, the diversity of my style, or so I think, the lack thereof. I know it's cliché dramatics, so I won't go too deep into it. Let's just say that when I find my way of building a character not rewarding anymore, withdrawal comes crashing in. And it's a tough bitch to dispose of.

Picked up on Dungeons & Dragons last autumn. Before, I never really was into RPGs. Man, did it ever grab me by the balls (Thanks, Chtulie ;)). I find 4th edition to be refreshingly simple to grasp and remarkably varied, though having said that, some monsters have by dumbing down their attacks lost some of their iconic status. So far I with a couple of friends played through a predominantly battle-orientated campaign with a paladin, and I'm about to embark on an alternate campaign with a different set of characters. Hopefully there will be a bit more RP'ing and puzzle solving, although I liked the battles all the same (I'm simple like that).

And TsunaCon 2010 and Elf Fantasy Fair 2010 happened. It was very nice (especially EFF) to be there, taking pictures, drawing a bit. Go find some videos of it on YouTube, I'm sure there are some available on there.

Ta ta.

I'm slowly getting back into the groove of picking up the pencil and either working on a picture (the WIP of which can be found here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3859273/) or doodling a random character design. The last few weeks I had uncoordinated bursts of creativity which netted me a threesome of decent to very satisfactory results. Here's towards keeping this trend going in an upward trend, wouldn't you agree?

The last nine-ten months I just couldn't find the drive to pick up a pencil and draw. It has always been and will always be a pain in the butt to recover from the notion that my art style just isn't good enough or doesn't evolve the way you want it to. In this case, the diversity of my style, or so I think, the lack thereof. I know it's cliché dramatics, so I won't go too deep into it. Let's just say that when I find my way of building a character not rewarding anymore, withdrawal comes crashing in. And it's a tough bitch to dispose of.

Picked up on Dungeons & Dragons last autumn. Before, I never really was into RPGs. Man, did it ever grab me by the balls (Thanks, Chtulie ;)). I find 4th edition to be refreshingly simple to grasp and remarkably varied, though having said that, some monsters have by dumbing down their attacks lost some of their iconic status. So far I with a couple of friends played through a predominantly battle-orientated campaign with a paladin, and I'm about to embark on an alternate campaign with a different set of characters. Hopefully there will be a bit more RP'ing and puzzle solving, although I liked the battles all the same (I'm simple like that).

And TsunaCon 2010 and Elf Fantasy Fair 2010 happened. It was very nice (especially EFF) to be there, taking pictures, drawing a bit. Go find some videos of it on YouTube, I'm sure there are some available on there.

Ta ta.

I'm slowly getting back into the groove of picking up the pencil and either working on a picture (the WIP of which can be found here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3859273/) or doodling a random character design. The last few weeks I had uncoordinated bursts of creativity which netted me a threesome of decent to very satisfactory results. Here's towards keeping this trend going in an upward trend, wouldn't you agree?

The last nine-ten months I just couldn't find the drive to pick up a pencil and draw. It has always been and will always be a pain in the butt to recover from the notion that my art style just isn't good enough or doesn't evolve the way you want it to. In this case, the diversity of my style, or so I think, the lack thereof. I know it's cliché dramatics, so I won't go too deep into it. Let's just say that when I find my way of building a character not rewarding anymore, withdrawal comes crashing in. And it's a tough bitch to dispose of.

Picked up on Dungeons & Dragons last autumn. Before, I never really was into RPGs. Man, did it ever grab me by the balls (Thanks, Chtulie ;)). I find 4th edition to be refreshingly simple to grasp and remarkably varied, though having said that, some monsters have by dumbing down their attacks lost some of their iconic status. So far I with a couple of friends played through a predominantly battle-orientated campaign with a paladin, and I'm about to embark on an alternate campaign with a different set of characters. Hopefully there will be a bit more RP'ing and puzzle solving, although I liked the battles all the same (I'm simple like that).

And TsunaCon 2010 and Elf Fantasy Fair 2010 happened. It was very nice (especially EFF) to be there, taking pictures, drawing a bit. Go find some videos of it on YouTube, I'm sure there are some available on there.

Ta ta.

No, I'm not dead at all. I just sometimes have these art peaks. The past couple of months have not been one of those. I do have doodles though. Hopefully the drawing bug will bite me and urge me to finish some of them. Maybe I should be looking for a muse again...

So last June, I've been to ChibiCon 09 together with a friend (http://felinalover.deviantart.com) and truth be told, it was alright. The attendance this year was a lot bigger than last year. I dare betting it's now among the greatest manga/animecons in the Netherlands. It was a darn shame I couldn't get some sort of drawing corner going like I managed to at ChibiCon 08. Tried various spots at the convention and I got some attention, but nobody really sat down and drew along. Also, a 45-minute waiting line for the dealer room?! And why does an organization give something as key as a dealer room so little space? Seriously, WTF?! They could've given that a bit more thought, that's for sure. The Manga Kissa (manga library/tea room) and Maid Cafe however were nice. The curry udon at the Maid Cafe was tasty, and the Manga Kissa was nice for its range of manga, the tea and the relative peace and quiet compared to the ruckus everywhere else. I tried setting up a drawing corner there but again, no such luck. At around 6 PM we decided we've seen enough and went for a restaurant back home. While 09 was fun, 08 just felt more enjoyable to me.

Flash forward to September... Last Saturday actually. I had been looking forward to AbunaiCon for months. I was finally going to meet the person behind the cute and bouncy character Lintu Astra...  lintu. My friend - cosplaying as Wario - and me arrived at around 11 AM and went for the dealer room which had the SAME EF-KING SETUP as ChibiCon. We spent 45 minutes just in the line for the dealer room. Maybe it's part for the course on bigger conventions. At least my friend's costume got a huge amount of attention.

Then at 2 PM I got a message that Lintu and her friend had arrived. It's funny that when I look forward to meeting another person for a month or two, I usually don't know how to react when the moment is actually there. I was so nervous that my personality, behaviour, etcetera was scaring her away or boring her, even though she said she was enjoying herself. After the Manga Workshop and a few games of Rock Band we went for the Dealer Room - this time without a long queue - and had them browsing around the stools. After a bite at the local fast food joint we went on to have a little art exchange in the Manga Kissa - which reminds me I still got to scan her sketch and send it to her - and turn a few heads in the meantime. At 9 PM it was about time to head for home. We said our goodbyes as their train left, after which we headed home as well. Lintu and her friend were such nice company, it's a shame it was so short (even though it was what? 6 hours we spent together). I hope we can have another meet like this, perhaps at Eurofurence, which would be a first for me (do we even have a furcon in the Netherlands?), and have a proper art jam, or who knows, a little collaboration project.

That's it for now. Unless something changes my mind, that it for the cons this year. For those who're curious, I'll certainly be attending Elf Fantasy Fair, Chibicon and AbunaiCon again next year. I should really get my ass in gear composing a folio, or something else for show at those cons.

Ta ta.

Well, as you can see, a new picture has been uploaded: a (grossly belated) birthday picture for  chalodillo and  jeso. It has been quite the hassle, I can tell you (see my journal entries on here for more on that), but the pay-off is more than worth it, as both of them were quite positive on it. I WILL plan next picture better though, this was getting a bit more frustrating than I am normally comfortable with.

In other news, Elf Fantasy Fair was a hoot. My friend and I have been photographing quite the amount of fine costumes and characters that were walking/cosplaying around. I was especially astounded with the quality of the costumes here in comparison to what I saw on last year's ChibiCon. Okay, ChibiCon is only manga/anime-centered but even then, the overall care put into the costumes at EFF was so much better. Maybe it's not really fair to compare the two. There were all kinds of booths and little shops too, from fantasy gaming/LARPing paraphernalia and book shops, to food booths and of course, the anime booths where I picked up a couple of magazines. All in all though, I thought EFF to be more spaceous but we sometimes had to literally wade through the masses. My friend said this was normal on a Saturday, but it's the only thing I did annoy me a bit, the rest was all cool. For pictures on the costumes that walked around on EFF, visit my friend's (http://felinalover.deviantart.com/) DA gallery and there are a host of videos of it on YouTube, search tags elf fantasy fair 2009. I won't put photos I made myself on-line, but if you want to, leave a comment and I can send some your way. I'm definitely going back next year, and maybe take a better look around in the shops and buy something more.

About ChibiCon 2009, who else will be going as well? I'm sort of curious which Deviants (FA'ers?) I will be able to meet. I know a select batch of Deviants that will be going, but in case you feel we haven't met yet, just leave me a note. A hint on how to find me on the con: I'm the one that stands out... Yeah. On another note, It's less than 5 weeks away. On EFF I was complaining that it still was a good time away, but now that I think of it, 4 1/2 weeks isn't all that long... Now I wish I'd have had more time for my folio (just 2 pics now). Alas, time is something I will never have enough of. Well, in any case, hope to see you at the Con!

Just something off-topic I just couldn't resist sharing, inbetween drawing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avUuGO-FSPw

Those guys at TechnoSoft were freaking FM wizards. Why they haven't included this on the original Thunder Force IV cart is a mystery, a tragedy and a travesty all at once to me. Heck, I would've traded all those omake tracks for just this one track on there.

[/geeking]

Still working on the Jesonite/Chalo birthday/thank you picture. I swear it will be finished on Friday, even if it takes me an all-nighter to pull it off. They've waited long enough.

Oh, and Elf Fantasy Fair was an absolute blast! More on that in the next update.

So yes, besides my DA account, I've also got this new account at FA. I was chatting with my longtime on-line friend WinterWinstar, and he urged me to create an account here as well. I would get more response here, and the culture here was a lot more open-minded. Swayed by the prospect of more response, here I am.

Now Tranquil Winter was done WAY back in the beginning of March. Almost directly after finishing and posting this piece, I figured it was time to start on a birthday picture for fellow FA artist Chalo. As the art of also-fellow-FA-artist Jesonite served as a muse for me during the creation of Tranquil Winter - and I seriously wanted to somehow come into contact with him as well, his art is just plain sexy - and his birthday was conveniently close to Chalo's as well, I figured I could proverbially "swat two flies with one strike". So began my newest creation...

... Not knowing the extent of which this picture and all of its challenges I'd chose to put into it would haunt me. Being fairly new with perspective and how the anatomy would be displayed from any certain point of view, I knew I had my job cut out for me. Despite earlier advice to not overdo it, I just went for it. The concept was to have Vixy and Ann Marie in an action shot at Paraiso beach volleyball. The first attempt went, hideously, hideously wrong, to the point I don't want to remember or be remembered about it. Second attempt was loads better, with anatomy I could generally agree with.

Then came the bitch: I was drawing each character on a SEPARATE SHEET, using different horizons. Big. Freaking. Mistake when you're going to compile them. Shrinking and enlarging both characters only brought about further frustrations, as the resulting composition was either way off, or kneeslapping hilarious. After about three weeks of toying - consider the fact that during those weeks I was generally sleeping badly, I feel sorry for my colleagues, my mind was just that occupied with it; yes, I'm a freaking psycho - out of sheer frustration, I scrapped the concept, threw the sketches away... And started over... With a new, less taxing concept.

Then came Chalo's birthday. I missed it.

Bummed with the failure to meet "the deadline", I settled myself for being done before Jesonite's, a scant 11 days after Chalo's birthday. Anyway, the rendition of the first character went quite smoothly. Point of views, angles, it looked about right. Then I went and MADE THE SAME F*CKING MISTAKE of putting the second character on a separate sheet. By some fluke it managed to look good in combination with the first sheet, so sigh of relief. With a few minor adjustments the most important part of the picture was done, and the rest - frame, background, etc. - would be smooth sailing.

Then came Jesonite's birthday. I missed it.

There are not enough expletives to express the overwhelming frustration I felt at that time. My image as lousy planner has yet again been firmly established. Two days after the fact I've decided to just show them the preview sketch. The forthcoming feedback I got from them was more than enough to make my day. Heck, all that was missing was Beethoven's 9th Symphony in the background as I danced up and down my room, happy as a fairy.

Embarassing acts of euphoria aside, the acknowledgement, admittedly, was what I needed to mellow the freak out, and just work on it. As you'll see below I'm just done sketching the whole thing and it's ready to be traced, inked and pencil shaded (which is another truckload of cowdung I'm going to have to dump quite soon, but we'll see how that comes along). So hang in there guys, I'm still very much busy with... I'm just such a lousy, lousy planner...

Status "Now THAT Is A Present":
Sketch: 100%
Trace: 100%
Ink: 100%
Shading: 1% (this is going to be a real b!tch)

Why does it look like I still got so much to do?

CM ~

PS: Check their art out, while I hopelessly try to pick up something that is commonly referred to as "speed". They've got some mad skills going on.

PS2 (no, not the console).: How do you insert text - and icon links into journal entries and comments? Can somebody tell me this?