...Dr Tachyon.

PhD GET.

It's now morning on the eastern side of the planet. I awoke something like a half hour early today. No particular reason - just done sleeping I guess. So I stayed in bed for that time, happily cuddling fluffy plushies. ^_^

To my fellow November thirdians, I hope your day starts as pleasantly as mine just did.

How old am I? Old enough to not care about being "too old" for plush toys anymore.

http://www.sintel.org/wp-content/co...../download.html

Do not bother with the YouTube version, it does no justice to this. At the very least, download the "Small" DivX. It's only 100MB, and it's beautiful.

Every couple of years, the Blender Foundation embarks on a short-movie project to showcase the capabilities of the Blender 3D suite and other open source software in the creation pipeline (while improving said software along the way). Their previous released work, Big Buck Bunny, I've mentioned here before. The latest, entitled "Sintel", was released just a few days ago. Click the link above.

The scalies in particular will appreciate this one. But so should everyone. Just don't expect it to be as light-hearted as Big Buck Bunny was.

For those who don't know, I'm at the tail end of studying for a Ph.D., and as such I've been writing a thesis. Recently I've been unable to draw, keep up with FA, or really spend much of any of my free time doing anything other than writing as I try to finish.

Well, as of today, it is done. I have submitted. These exhausting past few months are over. It's in the hands of the examiners, now. I'm confident, of course, but we shall see what revisions the examiners ask for before I become a Dr.

It's weird: I suppose I should be excited, or happy, or... something. I've been working on this thing, almost exclusively, for... shit, over a year. I had planned to make some kind of joke at this point, like "Suck on my long, hard thesis" or something, but I really don't feel like it. I don't really feel much of anything about it. I'm just kind-of... tired of thinking about it.

Well, anyway, I'm back. Hi! I want to apologise to my friends, here, for disappearing like that. Lord knows I hardly wanted to, but it was... kinda necessary. Sorry.

I'll be drawing again, I expect, now that I have my free time back. Of course, it might be a little while before the assembly line gets back up to speed. In the meantime, I have recently taken some wildlife photos that some might enjoy, so I'll upload a few of those.

Came home late last night to find lights on and a hole in the back door window pane. Looks like they went through the main section of the house, going through draws and cupboards looking for valuables. The front door was wide open.

Fortunately I don't live in the main section of the house - that part's somewhat derelict. There's a CRT TV and an old video system in there, but it looks like they didn't bother with those. I'm not sure if they even took anything.

Reported to police, yet to see them do anything. I still feel violated, and unsafe. As you can imagine, I didn't sleep well last night.

With my thesis and deadlines for various things at work approaching rapidly... I could have done without this. :'(

I've done practically no drawing this month, and that makes me sad. It's not for lack of inspiration, I just haven't had time. A couple of you already know this, but I'm in the last stages of my PhD studies: this means late-night struggles to get experiments running, and frantic brain-punishing thesis writing. Fortunately the former point was finished (successfully!) in the past week, but that means that I'm all about the thesis brain-punishment now.

I've made good progress on the thesis already, but I've got another couple of months, yet, to finish writing everything and polish drafts until it's finalised. And then after that I have a new position on the other side of the planet to move to. (That's both scary and awesome.)

Oh, yeah, and I'll be a Dr. after all that. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

I'll certainly be drawing again after this period is over---I owe things to a few of you, and I will get to them. Eventually. For the moment, I'm trying to keep up with the goings-on here, so I won't completely disappear, but I doubt there'll be any art from me for a while.

See you on the other side.

Hi. I just noticed that I've been a tad hypocritical about something. You've probably noticed I'll upload inks of things even though I plan to colour them later on. When other artists do this---upload something I know is a work in progress---I rarely take the time to look, because I'm often time-poor and I know (in most cases) the finished version will be up at some point. So I asked myself if I'm expecting other people to be different in regards to what I upload.

Thus the question: If I'm going to colour something, is anyone interested in seeing the inks? Related, does it annoy anyone if I upload the inks?

Curious.

I'm curious! If there's something you'd like to see me try my hand at, post it here. And who knows, if it tickles my fancy (and isn't too complicated) I just might give it a go.

A slew of new markers arrived this week, and I've been trying them out. *Happy cat.* This promises to be fun new challenge, I think.

I watch Doctor Who, and I love it. As you can imagine I was a bit unsure about how the newest Doctor played by Matt Smith would work out. I'd seen Matt Smith give an interview about it and after seeing that I believed he could pull it off, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Having now eaten the first episode of this particular pudding (shown on TV here last night), I can completely (un)authoritatively say:

Overall I liked it. The premise was quite good (as per what we've come to expect from now-lead-writer Steven Moffat). Though I did have some misgivings. For instance, Matt Smith's doctor seems like a bit of a prick for the first ten minutes or so, being quite insulting to the poor kid, and seeming to be completely unsympathetic. Although, by the end of the episode, I quite liked his Doctor character. ...Perhaps he just doesn't deal with children very well?

One thing I found most annoying, though, was numerous points of predictability. Every time I made a prediction about a plot point, I was right. (Spoilers follow.) I knew she was the kid when he had jumped too far (but I'll forgive them this one, purely for how powerfully she delivered the reveal). I knew she wasn't a real cop (admittedly, those stockings were a bit of a giveaway, though... mmmmmm........ *cough* Where was I? Oh yes!) I knew the "residence" wasn't just the house. I knew at the end he had jumped too far, again. And I knew once anybody mentioned anything about "plans for tomorrow" that she was getting married (saw it coming a bloody mile away...).

Oh, and now I know they're not going to be back in time.

(And honestly, the Doctor's been wildly wrong with his estimate twice now, why the hell is she trusting him a third time?)

(Spoilers end.)

That said, the monster was cool. And once you get over the predictability and a couple of other niggles, the story was pretty good.

And MOAR AMY!! ...and those stockings...

Eagerly awaiting the next episodes. I just hope they work on that predictability.

I'm gradually coming to the realisation that I don't much like using watercolours, and it wasn't the best choice to invest in them. Don't get me wrong, more power to those artists that can use them. But as I start to colour another piece using watercolours I'm finding the paper warping issues, inconsistency, imprecision, and hassle getting me down.

Admittedly it's partly my own fault not being practised in the medium. Still, having to have water jars, mixing colours, finicky brushes, keeping a spare test page handy... it's more than I honestly want to care about. Even if I did get better at juggling those things, eventually, why bother?

I still want to move towards doing more fully traditional works. Digital has served me well so far - perhaps it's even spoiled me - but there's something about physical media that appeals to me, even if I'm too impatient for the more do-it-yourself get-your-hands-dirty kinds of physical media like paints.

So I'm wondering, do markers have anything like this kind of hassle? I understand some papers take markers better than others, but apart from that there's little to no preparation or hassle involved (apart from the usual planning that you'd have to do anyway). I'm beginning to think I should just bite the bullet and buy some markers (likely Copics, which I'll import from overseas since local art supplies all seem to be almost twice the price, including currency conversion - seriously, WTF?) like I originally thought I would eventually do.

TL;DR: I'm blaming my tools for my own incompetence, BAAWWW.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc A Glorious Dawn. I know this did the rounds not long ago, but I recently rediscovered my love of this song. I thought it was a bit cheesy at the start, when I first saw it, but... If you haven't seen this already, you deserve to see it. Heck, if you've seen it already, you deserve to see it again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeIaGtQBb1c Trace Elements. This I just discovered. It's... similar, but... different.

On a related, belated note: Happy π day, everyone!

...that I bought expensive multifunction electric hair clippers on the basis that they would pay for themselves if I used them at least five times to cut my own hair (rather than go to a barber).

Today it's two more cuts to go!

It makes me happy to know there's that many of you that think I'm not too much of an arsehole, and not too godawful at drawing, to bother paying attention to. :3

But seriously, thank you all.

You know, I realised something while driving home from work this evening. The true power of becoming an adult is not that you're allowed to drive, per se, but that you can still make "broom broom" noises while doing it.

This is insightful, trust me.

So I saw that question meme that's going around just now. Something about art... Anyway, thing is, 14 questions is, like, way too long. Attention deficit? Hello? So I've made this abridged version that's much shorter and easier. Just one question, and it's multiple choice! Be as honest as you like. Okay, here's the question:

1) Yes or no?

Your input will help me become a better artist. Maybe. Unless I ignore it.

Feel free to repost this shorter version (read: you tagged, biatch). If your watchers are the little ADHD-suffering monkeys that mine are they'll thank you for it.

I'm off to visit family over the X-Mas/New Year's break, and I'll probably be incommunicado during that time. So all you crazy furries, have a merry thingo and a happy new whatyamacallit.

But just before I go, as a parting present, I'm going to upload a few sketches (in various states of finishedness) from my sketchbook from 2009 that I think came out nice. For what they're worth. Hope you like 'em, and see you in the new year!

-Tachyon

The whole point of starting this little "drawing" fiasco a few years back was to give myself a hobby that didn't involve sitting at a computer all day - I already have work and other hobbies like that. This is probably the main reason why I still traditionally sketch and ink my work, rather than doing everything digitally, and I have huge respect for the traditional form.

So since I started I've been on the look-out for any decent marker set for sale around here, or even anywhere in Oz. But I haven't found anything. It seems I'm going to have to order internationally and get it shipped, and I'm starting to seriously consider doing that.

So, do any of my watchers have any advice on where and, more importantly, what I should look at? I hear Copic Sketch markers, though expensive, can't be beaten. Or Trias, I'm seeing praise for them, too. Dick Blick seems to ship internationally.

Relevant: http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF032-To.....y_Birthday.gif

26. I can haz old fart, nao? I can already complain about my hearing - I haven't been able to hear anything out of my right ear for about a week (damn wax).

Anyhoo, another year done and dusted. Let's see how this new one shapes up.

More specifically, Eva is too goddamn easy to come up with silly ideas to draw her for. I've got, like, three separate things of her that I'm in the process of inking right now. And all of them I want to colour. And then there's a couple of other things I've got going on.

Damn it, why is it that ideas are easy to accumulate over time, but seem so hard to come up with on the spot?

Gotta get faster. D:

An open letter to interested parties.

Not doing commissions. Might be a while. I'm flattered that there's still interest (I presume - well, those couple of you who are in that queue that doesn't officially exist know who you are), but I'm a bit burnt out from them at the moment.

See, I'm going to be working primarily on my doctoral thesis in the coming months. It's not that I won't have time to draw (Nuts to that idea!) but I'm going to need a way to unwind from the mental hard work of each day in the coming months, and for me artistic hard work isn't a great unwinder. Commissions tend to bring out the worst perfectionism in me, and to be honest, by the time I call "done" on a commission, I've grown so weary of the image... So I've decided I'm going to take it easy, and do some things just for myself (and stuff I owe friends) for a while.

Don't know when commissions will open again. Not sure if I'll reopen them once I've finished my thesis. I guess we'll see.

All that said, thanks guys! I never in my wildest dreams thought someone would pay me to draw, of all things. And gripe as I may... it's been a fun challenge.

Peace,
Tachyon

I wanted to bump that meme off my page, so here's something.

Some of you (most?) probably think my profile description is completely a joke, but I really am an experimental physicist. Well, I'm actually a grad student, but that just means I'm a relatively new experimental physicist.

That said, I'm currently nearing the end of my third year working towards a PhD, and it's coming to the stage where I kinda know some stuff, and people kinda ask me for my help and opinion about some things (which I always find flattering).

The thing is, I've been offered the chance, so in the near future I will be performing referee duties for the first time. What that basically means is that I'll be reviewing someone else's scientific work before it's published. For those who are unfamiliar with the system, this is significant in that it's kind-of a rite of passage. At least, that's how I feel about it.

The way scientific publications are made (in the vast majority of cases) goes roughly like this: Scientists do research, and then write a "paper", detailing what they've found or developped. It's typically a few pages long, depending on what scientific journal they plan to submit it to. After submitting it, an editor at the journal sends it out to some anonymous referees; scientists who are competent in the field that the paper is about. These referees each read the paper, evaluating it for its correctness, reasonableness, and significance. They then reply to the editors with their determination, including changes that ought to be made, points that should be addressed, and perhaps most significantly, whether the paper ought to be published.

Basically, referees are the gatekeepers of scientific publication and, to some extent, scientific progress itself. The majority of scientists themselves will act as referees from time to time; this is why the process is called "peer review". I've published a couple of papers before, so I have an idea about the anxiety of waiting on the determination of your referees.

And I'm about to join that fold.

It's a little intimidating, and a little exciting, to be given that responsibility. Even if it is just one paper, in one journal, from one subfield of the realm of science.

 jeevestheroo tagged me for a meme. Yeah, Jeeves, tag the guy who always complaining he doesn't have enough time, real funny...



I don't do many of these, so forgive me one.

1. How old will you be in five years?
I'll be 30. OH CHRIST I'LL BE THIRTY!!

2. Who did you spend at least two hours with today?
Uh, I guess, a work colleague or two who I share an office with.

3. How tall are you?
What time of day? In the morning I'm 6' 0.5". In the evening I'm 5' 11.5".

4. What do you look forward to most in the next six weeks?
Finish writing the draft of a scientific paper I've been working on for over... shit, 20 months now. There's light at the end of the tunnel, though!

5. What's the last movie you saw?
Super Troopers. It was okay. At the movies? Hell, which was the latest, The Dark Knight or Wall-E? I don't go to the movies much.

6. Who was the last person you called?
Dad.

7. Who was the last person to call you?
Dad.

8. What was the last text message you received?
Fucking spam from my provider.

9. Who was the last person to leave you a voicemail?
Voicemail's a scam. If you really want to talk to me, try calling again later.

Nobody tries again later. :-/

10. Do you prefer to call or text?
If text = email, then yes. I like substance in my words, and it's difficult to fit much substance in 160 characters.

11. What were you doing at 12am last night?
Asleeping.

12. Are your parents married/divorced?
Widowed. Recently.

13. When did you last see your mom?
Jesus, meme... At a viewing before her memorial service, 3 months ago this Sunday.

...

...Awwwwkward.

14. What color are your eyes?
Boring-ass brown.

15. What time did you wake up today?
6:40-ish.

16. What are you wearing right now?
White (snow-camoflage pattern) shorts, light blue T-shirt, black hoodie (some kind of colourful spray pattern on the front)... belt... dark purple underpants...

17. What is your favorite Christmas song?
Burn the lot of them.

18. Where is your favorite place to be?
The Internet.

19. Where is your least favorite place to be?
Any church, during a service. Got enough of that for my lifetime, thank you.

20. Where would you go if you could go anywhere?
Europa, Jupiter's sixth moon. That would be so very, very awesome.

21-28 are apparently missing.

29. What color are your sheets?
Blue. Top sheet is darker than the other, though, since they aren't of the same set.

30. How many pillows do you sleep with?
Just the one.

31. What is your favorite season?
Autumn.

33. What do you like about winter?
Um... it's not boiling hot?

34. What do you like about the summer?
...It's not freezing cold?

35. What do you like about spring?
Allergies! No, wait, I don't get allergies.

36. How many states/provinces have you lived in?
Hang on, meme, what happened to "What do you like about Autumn?" (It's because of the wonderfully mild breezy days, by the way, meme.) I'm beginning to think this meme doesn't like me.

Anyway... 2.

37. What cities/towns have you lived in?
Grew up in a little rural town, moved to the nearest big-smoke capital city for edumacation purposes.

38. Do you prefer shoes, socks, or bare paws?
That completely depends on what I'm walking on. Duh. For general around the house, I prefer bare feet when it's warm enough (it's not warm enough now - it's winter here).

39. Are you a social person?
What's with all these "shy until they get to know you types"? Sheesh, grow some fricking balls!

I'm basically the same, obviously.

40. What was the last thing you ate?
I'm having dinner right now, consisting of a healthy assortment of raw vegetables, carrot, potato, lettuce, celery, onion, and some tomato, and a lump of cheese. Pretty much the same as any other night.

41. What is your favorite restaurant?
Don't really have one. I'm one of those seemingly rare types that doesn't really care a whole lot about food beyond being able to eat when hungry.

42. What is your favorite ice cream?
Mint choc-chip. (Fuck yeah, Jeeves! *fistbump*)

43. What is your favorite dessert?
Something sweet and chocolaty. So many good ones to choose from.

44. What is your favorite kind of soup?
Potato. Something Mum used to make, and I should see if I can find her recipe, though I'm pretty sure it's damn-near impossible to find the proper ingredients these days. That makes me very sad. :<

45. What kind of jelly do you like on your PB & J sandwich?
Promite.

46. Do you like Chinese food?
S'ok, I guess.

47. Do you like coffee?
No. And the smell of the coffee machine in the office that I share with several people who do like coffee is really beginning to shit me.

48. How many glasses of water, a day, do you drink on average?
I was about to say that the 7-8 glasses per day is a pile of shit urban legend, but I think I might almost actually drink that much. Not big glasses, though.

49. What do you drink in the morning?
Water.

No number 50 either, WTF meme?

51. Do you sleep on a certain side of the bed?
Hell no I sleep in the goddamn middle and spread the fuck out.

Yeah, I sleep alone, why do you ask?

52. Do you know how to play poker?
I played poker once and lost $10. NEVAR AGAIN.

53. Do you like to cuddle?
Depends on the person. If they're just happy friendly nice person, sure! If they've forgotten how to maintain basic hygiene, please keep the hell away from me.

54. Have you ever been to Canada?
Yes, actually. A work conference, last year. I had fun, too; got to see Niagara Falls.

55. Do you have an addictive personality?
I don't think so.

56. Do you eat out or at home more often?
At home.

58. Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you?
Nope. Though I'm sure there's one or two around 18.55 million out there.

59. Do you want kids?
I don't want them. I don't not want them. As it is now, I don't see myself ever having kids, but that's probably better for the planet, anyway. The world is running headlong into a serious overpopulation problem as it is.

60. Do you speak any foreign languages?
I learned Spanish in high school 10 or so years ago and haven't used a word of it since. Being in the Asia-Pacific region, it probably would've made more sense to teach us some Asian language, but nooooo...

62. Have you ever ridden in an ambulance?
Not that I can recall...

63. Do you prefer an ocean or a pool?
Pool. I get sand in my vagina at the beach.

64. Do you prefer a window seat or aisle seats?
Isle. Though the window-seat view is nice, the window-seat cramp is not. See also question 3.

The equation can change if the flight is of the double-digit-hours variety, because it's easier to sleep against a corner.

65. Do you know how to drive stick?
Yes. Sticks are more fun to drive.

66. What is your favorite thing to spend money on?
That implies that I enjoy spending money on consumables or collectibles, which is not really true in either case. I tend to save.

67. Do you wear any jewelry?
None, these days not even a watch.

68. What is your favorite TV show?
Um, probably The Micallef Program.

69. Can you roll your tongue?
Yes.

70. Who is (are) the funniest person (people) you know?
Eh, everyone has their moments.

71. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?
No... though I don't outrightly reject the idea...

72. What is the main ring tone on your phone?
It's called Chopin, came with the phone. *Snoops around Wikipedia* Seems to be Valse in D-flat major, Minute Waltz, Op. 64, No. 1. I would've had something more personalised if my phone supported MP3 ringtones (that I could upload to it, that is).

73. Tag 5 people and give them a shout
I don't want to tag... I might suggest a certain mountain hare do this, though.

Here's the deal, guys: Seeing as this meme seems to be missing a bunch of questions, go ahead and make up the remaining 11 questions and ask me here, and I'll answer them.

I've been musing on this idea for over a week now, and I'm curious what you guys think of it. I'm pondering making a folio of native Aussie girls. Pinups, basically, in an Aussie environment, of some of the cute marsupials we have down under. I've already got some ideas for images that I think would be pretty good, if I could pull them off.

Haven't done a folio before, and no doubt it would take a while to complete. I'm thinking about making it digital download rather than an actual dead-tree eww-the-pages-are-stuck-together folio, 10ish images for cheap like $5-10 or something. Would there be any interest in me embarking on such a project?

I might go ahead with it, regardless of the response I get here, but encouragement is always welcome.

The new Karnivool album, Sound Awake, is awesome. Seriously. It exceeded my expectations.

Did it exceed my hopes, though? Is it better than Themata, their first album? I'm honestly undecided. I've listened to Sound Awake twice now, Themata dozens of times, and it's not enough to make a judgement. I've got a feeling that Themata has slightly better internal consistency, but then, Sound Awake is more awesome each time I hear it.

Just so you know. /Happy cat.

I've been doing gesture sketches. Well, I've been trying to do gesture sketches. In an effort to try to improve my knowledge of the figure, as well as drawing speed, I've been making use of the 30 second drawing tool on the awesome posemaniacs.com site.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.

It's kinda fun, but man it's hard. I had no idea how much I'd suck at this.