So, both of the old groups I used to frequent, H2I and I <3 Critique have pretty well dried up... hardly surprising, considering that I've been out of the loop for 3-4 years now, and things change over that much time. I've been looking around, though, and haven't really found many alternatives... at least, no particularly active ones. Anyone have any suggestions? I got comments/critique/feedback, and I know there's people out there who need and want it.

I'd start a group myself, except that I know I don't have the organizational skills to maintain it... considering how many inactive groups I've already found, pretty sure the last thing FA needs is another neglected group.

Whelp, in case anyone is wondering where I've been, or why I'm commenting on their eight month old journal posts, tl;dr: in the fall of last year, I had a stroke/heart attack. Then I spent 6 or so months in a hospital rehab ward, and am only now getting my shit back together. During my period of convalescence, I pretty well completely forgot how to draw, and regaining what skill I had is now my biggest priority... you know, now that I have the "important" stuff taken care of, like walking without a cane, and handling my own diabetic management.

My next comic project is already well in the works, it's called Perceptionality, and I'll be posting it on tumblr: it's not really furry, so I probably wont be posting much of it here. Well, maybe a few characters... we'll see.

So, I'm sitting there watching an AMV of something-or-other on YouTube, and at some point I noticed that the characters upper teeth would move up and down when they spoke.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the upper teeth are in fact rooted into what is commonly know as the skull. Unless there was some sort recent discovery in medical science of an upper jaw, the teeth shouldn't move unless the entire head is moving.

Ever since I noticed this, seeing upper teeth move while a character is talking looks downright freakishly bizarre. I can't stop seeing it, either.

And now, I hope you notice it too. Yay.

I felt like doing some reading, cuz I used to do a lot of that and haven't picked up a book in several years. So, I go to one of my dad's floor-to-ceiling bookshelves of SF and Fantasy and grabed something off the shelf.

That was two months ago. This is what my reading list looked like since then:

Lathe of Heaven -Ursula K. LeGuin
Foundation, Issac Azimov
Foundation and Empire, Issac Azimov
Second Foundation, Issac Azimov
Gateway, Frederick Pohl
Neutron Star, Larry Niven
All the Myriad Ways, Larry Niven
A Gift From Earth, Larry Niven
A Hole In Space, Larry Niven
Protector, Larry Niven
The Long ARM of Gil Hamilton, Larry Niven
The Integral Trees, Larry Niven
The Smoke Ring, Larry Niven
Ringworld, Larry Niven
Ringworld Engineers, Larry Niven
Ringworld Throne, Larry Niven
Tales of Known Space, Larry Niven
World of Ptavvs, Larry Niven
Convergent Series, Larry Niven
Draco Tavern, Larry Niven

Guess who my new favourite author is.

Hint: Not Azimov. The Foundation series was pure torture.

I hereby declare that I will never succeed.

I will never believe that my work is good enough.

I will never finish learning all there is to learn.

I will never rest on my laurels.

I will never content myself with mediocrity

I will never stop experimenting or taking risks.

I will never be afraid to make mistakes.

I will never jump on the band wagon, follow the crowd, or do anything just because it's sure to be popular with the kind of people who I do not want to be popular with.

I will never ignore what people have to say, for better or worse.

I will never accept that there are no more new ideas, or that they can be found by adhering to the old ones.

I will never concede that something must be flawless for it to be good.

I will never forget that the more refined, polished, honed, perfected, and processed artwork becomes, the less interesting it is to artist and audience alike.

I will never forget that even if I detest my shortcomings, I have my strengths, and that I developed those strengths because they were the things that truly mattered to me from the very beginning.

I will never forget that a failure is, by definition, an outcome that does not match what was predicted, that predictable is boring, and that I actually like to surprise myself.

I will never succeed, because "success" means wealth and/or popularity, neither of which has anything to do with what I do or why I do it.

Where are you staying?:
At home.

What day are you getting there?:
I'm there right now.

How long are you going?:
Foreseeable future.

Who will you be with?:
Myself.

What is your gender?:
Male. Don't let the hair fool you.

How old are you?:
72, in diabetic years.

How tall are you?:
5 foot something-ish.

What suits will you have?:
Lawsuits. I may be dressed as a shark.

Can I touch you?:
See above.

Can I take pictures with you?
See above.

Can I stalk you?:
See above.

Can I hug or snuggle you?:
See abo- uh... depends. a/s/l?

Can I talk to you?:
Sure. People can talk to anything: brick walls, jars of mayo, their car... I have a pretty good chance of replying, though.

Are you nice?:
Yes, very. Hypothetically. Theoretically, not always.

Can I buy you lots of drinks?
Diet-coke, from the fountain. By the litre. Keep it coming, I can't draw without it.

Do you do trades?:
Occasionally. Depends on my workload.

Do you have an artist table?:
Yeah, it's right here next to my computer desk.

Do you like parties?:
Goodness, yes. One of these days I'd like to actually go to one.

What should I not do around you?:
Do whatever you like... There may be "see above" afterwards, though.

If I see you, how should I get your attention?:
Doorbell, or knocking. But you're probably going be at MFF for the next couple of days, not my house. You go ahead and have a good time.

I took a shot at National Novel Writing Month this year. Write a 50,000 word narrative in 30 days... how hard could it be, right?

Well, not that hard, actually. I was getting 2K words a day pretty easily. It took up a lot of time, but I wasn't having any trouble with it.

By the fifth, though, I kept thinking "You know... I miss working on comics." That happens a lot... I get into RPing, and it's great, but I miss working on comics. I start working on a real website for myself, and it's coming along nicely, but I miss working on comics.

'Course, one of the things about NaNoWriMo is that you're encouraged to sit down and just start writing. Jump right into the act of pure creation.

That's just what I did. I sat down with paper and pencil, and started making comics again.

So... I failed NaNoWriMo, but it didn't fail me.

So, I've always herd good stuff about Scott McCloud's books. I picked up "Making Comics" last Monday.

I was not prepared.

Now, I don't know everything there is to know about comics, but I like to think I know a thing or two about a thing or two.

It turns out, I know just enough that I understood everything in the book, and every single page had at least one profound revelation or a brilliant insight. Big things. Little things. Everything. I even learned a few things I didn't know that I already knew, like putting a name to the face of a person I was vaguely familiar with, and giving me a proper introduction.

I feel like I just took the red pill. Premature enlightenment.

[01] Do you have the guts to answer these questions and re-post as The Controversial Survey?
No, in fact, I do not. I am one of 4% of users on the internet that was tragically born without a jack-ass organ.

[02] Would you do meth if it was legalized?
Start running insurance scams with exploding meth labs.

[03] Abortion: for or against it?
Against, apart from rape or medical complications. Which will matter the next time I'm having a baby, which I am sorely unequipped for.

[04] Do you think a country would fail with a female president?
I don't think the majority of the USA could handle it.

[05] Do you believe in the death penalty?
Yes. Particularly, for talking on a cell phone while driving or in the movie theatre, and for people who never stop telling "You Had To Be There" WoW or DDO stories (I don't care what dropped or who crit'ed).

[06] Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?
Yes. Like alcohol and tobacco, I'm all for legalizing anything that will kill people dumb enough to abuse it. if it kills enough brain cells that you sit and quietly stare at a wall, that's good enough for me.

[07] Are you for or against premarital sex?
Against. However, I am all for drive-through weddings and DIY divorces.

[08] Do you believe in God?
Yes.

[09] Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?
Yes. If men are marrying other men, it proportionately increases the number of women available. If women are marrying other women, that's just hot.

While we're on the subject, let's legalize polygamy too.

[10] Do you think it's wrong that so many Hispanics are illegally moving to the USA?
That's terrible... nobody should have to resort to moving to the USA.

[11] A twelve year old girl has a baby, should she keep it?
I can't say most adults would do any better as a parent then she would.

[12] Should the alcohol age be lowered to eighteen?
Here in Canada? It's already 18 or 19. Moving right along.

[13] Should the war in Iraq be called off?
Is that thing still going on? Great-googley-moogley, why hasn't someone done something about it?

[14] Assisted suicide is illegal: do you agree?
(Checks Wikipedia) Yes, I agree that it is currently illegal. Next question, please.

[15] Do you believe in spanking your children?
Heck no. Take away their XBox or internets or whatev', and you get much more immediate results. The therapy bills are lower, too.

I'm just kidding; I don't have kids. If I did, i would never let them have an XBox.

[16] Would you burn an American flag for a million dollars?
I'm Canadian. Do the math.

[17] Who do you think would have made a better president? McCain or Obama?
I don't care; I'm just glad Sara Palin isn't VP.

I'm Canadian, and I still thank God (See [08]) she isn't veep.

[18] Are you afraid others will judge you from reading some of your answers?
Answer A) I'm more worried about how I'll be judged if my friends find out I'm on FA.
Answer B) Yes: people wont get the full effect unless they read all my answers.
Answer C) No: A few flippant remarks don't represent my opinions any better then my bushy-tailed avatar represents how I look. I wouldn't put my real opinions on the internet any more then I would a picture of myself.

Package arrived in the mail. One medium intuos4 Wacom tablet. $400 of smexy black hardware. New electronics smell.

To go with it, someone let me have the second install of their copy of CS4. Fuil suite, the works. The tablet came with some free downloads for PS, too.

You are looking at one very happy vulpine.

Now... I am a firm believer that a tablet is not a substitute for skill. However, a tablet does make it easier for one to apply the skills they have when working digitally. Compared to my old tablet, this thing is whole new levels of awesome (the Wacom site has a big spiel about the features. I won't bore you with the details here).

I will say that this thing is just plain slick. I think I'm in love.

I'm going to have to scrape together another hundred bucks for one of those Art Pens... I have no clue how I'm going to manage that.

To anyone who desires a tablet; for goodness sake, polish up your skills on paper and pencil first. You don't have to go for the really expensive tablets either... Wacom has some low end tablets that are much, much less expensive.

I don't think the size of the tablet is as big a deal as some people make it out to be... I started with a small tablet, and it did everything I needed it to do.

I feel like loosening up a bit.

Flat colours for any grayscale or B/W image. That includes penciled* as well as inked drawings.

Five openings, available to anyone, first come first serve. The only limitation is no adult or fetish material.

No particular requirements for size or resolution, though bigger works better. I typically use working images four times the size of final images.

If you want a commissioned image coloured, I'll need the go ahead from the original artist.

If you know how you want it coloured, lemme know, or you can leave it to me.

Takers?

*Even sketches.