Drawn in ink. A6 (approx 4" x 6").

Drawn in ink. A6 (approx 4" x 6").

I have spent many a day trying to learn to draw anime. I took a few art classes, and practiced daily, but the reality was that I just didn't get any better. It seems to me that learning to draw anime isn't at all difficult, but requires a certain degree of talent, and a great deal of commitment and practice. I quit, I started again, I took a break, I quit, and I started again. But I have come to terms that I am no artist. Not just when it comes to anime, but just art in general. So why is it that learning to draw is so damn hard?

Although drawing has always been a challenge for me, I find it frustrating at times that there are those around me with an immense spring of talent which I lack. I guess I'll have to a mere participant, but even so, I hope one day i'll be able to draw just as easily as those around me. It's very discering when you are the only artistically reatrded member in your circle of friends.

Now in a completely unrelated topic...

Don't run awayyy~~T~T

These are known as "paper childs" They are basically paper cut outs of anime characters, with an optional speech bubble, made to look 3D using an "optical illusion." You're supposed to take great care in the angle, and the direction you take the shot to maximize the effect, but I sadly didn't have the skill or the time to make it look great. It was a fun 30 minute project, and I might go ahead and make a few more of these. It's quite fun decorating your desk with these little cuties.

I will be updating tomrrow with a review of the "Moe Moe Uniform Picture Book" tomrrow. Stay tuned for more random updates.

Bertram Bunniweather realized only too late that he neglected to read the fine print. There were strings attached.

"There are always strings attached," he murmured under his breath.

..................................................................................................

The Illustration Friday theme this week is "strings."

Brazilian-born Rubens LP remembers spending hours as a child drawing comic heroes like Wolverine, Superman, Batman and the X-men with his father. But even though he stopped drawing for a number of years after that, somehow that passion never left him, and by the time he was in college he was drawing all the time.
Exhibitions of Dali, Picasso, Miró and the Brazilian artist Aldemir Martins also made a strong impression on him. One glance at his works show that despite its contemporary outlook, there's a traditional heart beating within.

For Rubens LP, creating artwork is about inspiring people, and true art has a unique kind of beauty. It's never about the money, but it's always about being true to yourself.
LP also loves to read, and feels he's discovering the world through studying philosophy, socialism and religion. Perhaps tellingly, he explains: " I don't draw with my mind; I draw with the soul. And everything inspires my soul. Everything".

Ruben LP's clients include Smart, Brazilian model and actress Alinne Moraes, Absolut Vodka, Simyo, Borgata and Sony Ericsson. Here you can see the artworks Rubens LP designed for a Coca-Cola & MTV Brasil project.

Illustration for MTV Magazine

Billboard for event in Borgata casino

You can check out more of the LP's wonderful graphics on his personal website and on Fluxus Central, a portfolio of his commercial works.

Käthe Kollwitz, The Prisoners (Plate 7 from the cycle Peasants' War. Impression before the 1921 edition.), 1908, Line etching with sandpaper, drypoint and soft ground with fabric and Ziegler's transfer paper on heavy white wove paper.

{Source: Artnet}

Käthe Kollwitz, After the Battle

{Source: GraemeMitchell.com}

Käthe Kollwitz, Aus vielen Wunden blutest du, o Volk, 1893-1897

{Source: Käthe Kollwitz Museum (Köln)}

Wes will be in Phoenix for the week working, and because I am such a huge vagine I am afraid of staying in our new place on my own. Tonight I have enlisted my younger sister to stay the night with me. I am trying to arrange to have someone here every night, at least for a little while. But I don't think I have enough friends to fill up the week. Depressing.

Wes and I haven't really been apart since we first became a couple. Well, we were once when my mom and I went to California for a week in the beginning of the year. But I was the one doing the leaving! It is different when he is the one gone. Me no like-y.

While at my parents earlier in the evening, after dinner, I was giving my brother some drawing lessons. He is a talented little bugger! I was just giving him the basics on how to create the proper proportions on a face, and the next drawing he produced was ten times better than the previous one.

My family is quite wonderful.

a self-portrait from the inside-out.

Day 12: shell in ink

My son brought back a huge tub full of shells after an adventure with his dad last year. I find them so inspiring.

amanda ∞

IMPORTANT CF::: swiftboating

there's a federal election in canada tomorrow. i'm voting against stephen harper and the neo-conservative party of canada. but i'm sure you expected that. in australia, everyone has to vote by law, even if they only spoil their ballot. in canada, no law compels citizens to vote. so they don't. vote or die is a powerful slogan. behind it is a genuine sentiment. though in canada's first-past-the-post system my vote has little impact, not voting has no impact at all. or rather, it sends a strong message: i don't care. you don't care. but you do care, don't you? about the environment, health care, education, culture and sport, the economy? i know you do. so vote or be even more so lorded over. vote and try and make a difference. also start a weblog and kick up a shit storm. like:

The Fuck That Shit Party

The Fuck That Shit Party
.
When was the Last Time You voted For a Party?
Voted for a Candidate You Trusted and Believed In?
We Know. Us Either...
Vote Against the Worse of Many Evils
Fuck That Shit

The Fuck That Shit Party
.
Fuck That Shit!
I'm voting that shit
Shit...

The Fuck That Shit Party
.
What's that Smell?
A Whiff of Corruption
The Stink of Indifference
A Sense of More of the Same Ol' Same Ol'
Fuck That Shit

The Fuck That Shit Party
.
Fuck That Shit!
That's a bad attitude
Shitty!
That's all wrong
I'm Voting Fuck That Shit!
Shit. Me too!
We'll flush the filth out of Washington!

The Fuck That Shit Party
.
Stewards of the Economy.
Protectors of the Environment.
Committed to Excellent Healthcare.
Tough on Crime.
We Know. But it Sounds Good...
Fuck That Shit

The Fuck That Shit Party
.
.
.
the new deference

My Etch-a-Sketching of Christina's World.

Accurate or not, I decided to try and capture the power of the classic Andrew Wyeth painting (on an Etch-a-Sketch).

No, this is not my first time doing works on Etch-a-Sketch. In fact, if you want to try it yourself, you can read my Wiki-how.

This one is called Apron Strings and is colored with pencil crayons, a bit of pen and a scanned doily.

this is some awful comic drawing i do. just awful. i love it.

I was introduced to Mr. Carter, above, a farmer, living here for the past 50 years and a strong believer in organic farming. Using a quarter acre of his land, my husband and I grew: lettuce, watermelon, peppers, squash, basil, chard, and fennel. And sold it at our local farmers' market. We no longer grow, but still shop at the market to support the farmers who still do. We're a fairly dry island and water is unpredictable.

It's easier to paint a farmer than to be one.

I started the sketch on a toned canvas using vine charcoal- I love its' softness. Then I washed in some tones to get composition.

Mr. Carter does have a face- I'm having some trouble getting it right so in the name of patience, I'll get on it tomorrow after it dries a little more. The pants and the boots are NOT giving me trouble.

Works in progress remind me of the bride in curlers, no makeup, old clothes and sneakers. Then the stages of makeover, and layers, and magic, and good lighting and a loving congregation, and presto! She's a beauty. I'm hoping some of that happens here.

Mr. Carter and Miss Bonnie as St. Croix Gothic.

Traded a pitchfork for a palette knife- neither job is easy.

I'm going to Florida to see my mother for a week - leave me some comments to come home to. Even constructive ones on finishing this piece.

Be sure to check it out, this coming Saturday. It will be full of adventure, action, and at least one robot.

Go to Flickr to see them all up close!

]]> http://charliestransmission.wordpress.com/?p=206 Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:39:27 +0000 charliestransmission http://charliestransmission.wordpress.com/2008/10/13/new-look/

Indeed you are right

Thought my blog could do with a new, fresh and modern look. With a personalised banner. If anyone wants to make one then I shall happily accept it and well if I deem it good enough it shall be the new header of CharliesTransmission Wordpress :)

But does the blog look good? Honest opinions?

- - -

- - -

just for fun..

there she goes~ there she goes~~