Drawing @ MindSay

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Finally, we had a fucking Wednesday without a major drama. AND, tutorial was actually fucking meaningful - shock fucking horror. :)
 
(Two sentences with the use of the F-word - fucking hell. :P)
 
Anyway - I got a little further with my UCAS application - I entered all the course details and shite - as well as adding all my qualifications. They all look ever so shiny and sexy, all the grades in a vertical line - complimenting oneanother. :)
Except the Religious Education short course GCSE of course lmfao - it's a proper D - it stands out from the rest of them because it's shit and it doesn't get a bath. (And no, I'm not referencing to Sharon, or am I? :P)
 
Media Studies was fairly pointless - but Lewis and I managed to entertain ourselves pretty well.
I found a big elastic band on the floor in the English classroom yesterday - so today I made a STATIONERY SLINGSHOT!
Two pens, a green gel pen and a red ballpoint, a piece of clay to keep the lids on - and my special elastic band.
 
I was stupidly hyper though - I mean come on, in a normal state of mind, I'd have never turned around and said: "ANNE MARIE? DO YOU LIKE MY SLINGSHOT?!"
Lewis and I expressed our hatred for this shitty assignment by doing shite all. Well, we "planned" and "thought about our ideas" - but this is Lewis' idea of planning - a badly-drawn sketch of Roseberry Topping, complete with a stick-figure Ashleigh being pushed down the side of it in her wheelchair by a stick-figure me:
 

 
But of course, I couldn't help pissing myself laughing. Lewis can make me laugh a lot sometimes. :)
 
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I managed to calm down a little for Photography.
The film I didn't end up using last weekend wasn't wasted - because I got to use it today. We were using the old film cameras - we went outside and Grahame told us to take photos of each other from weird angles. Well naturally - I'm great at all things weird.
Afterwards, we had to load our films in the DARK, DARK, DARK darkroom - which proved difficult of course, due to the sheer blackness of it.
 
Though there is one thing I like - I like the fact I can squeeze Shelly's bum and nobody can see what I'm doing. Giggle. :)
 
We haven't got the negatives or developed photos back yet - I think we have to wait until next Wednesday. Uber fail. :(
 
Since I was the only one with a watch, I was entrusted with the job of telling Shelly and Hayleigh when to shake the cannisters with the films and developer in.
So every 30 seconds, I took great delight in squealing: "SHAKE!"
 
When Grahame was explaining the different aparatus - he held up the 'funnel', which serves as the lids for the cannisters - and I can't have been listening properly, for he then exclaimed: "And this is called SATAN..."
Obviously, it made me pay attention - but it's also now going to make me think "SATAN" every time I see one of them. Mildy amusing I suppose. :)
 
I found a broken pin with a plastic end when I was in the darkroom. I was scraping it on the workbenches because I liked the sound it made. Grahame instructed me to: "Give me the NAUGHTY PIN..." - but I wouldn't give him it. I exclaimed that I'd named it Grahame, after him - and it was now my friend.
Yeah, clearly my hyper state was getting worse. :)
 
And it seemed to be at its peak in Film Studies.
I know that they all find my yawn and my sneeze hilarious - but they'd never heard my laugh until today. And of course, everyone who knows me - knows that my laugh is the most fucking ridiculous noise in existence.
I was tormenting Kayleigh with my stationery slingshot, shooting bits of rubber at her - which she kept blocking with bits of paper and files.
 
You know you're too hyper when AM turns around and tells you to keep it down because you're being disruptive. Gigglegigglesnort. :)

Here's my attempt at pin-up art:



It's all very heartsy and pink and fuschia-y, don't you think? It's the only image so far that I've scanned in using a big map-size scanner that left scrapes, scratches, and lines on the image that weren't originally there that somehow makes the drawing look retro. Like a poster for an exploitation grindhouse kind of film. That was the intention all along. I don't know if it's my most successful drawing of this kind. I'll let you be the judge. I don't even know what I'm going to do with it. The line "Love Letters Straight from my Heart" comes from an old song and was used in the movie Blue Velvet (one of my favorite films of all time).

Oh, and the shoes! Those are based on REAL shoes by Chanel based on real guns used for heels. Don't you just love 'em?

My girlfriend is cool because she likes this.

Just a preview of what I'm working on in the moment. I haven't had the heart to really sink down and write, so drawing these characters are testimony to what I've been up to lately. Some of the drawings aren't finished. Several seem to follow a pattern. I've been drawing a lot of beautiful characters lately, ones that belong in fashion magazines, all dressed up and polished. I'm not sure what that says about me. I'll attempt, in any case, to give a brief description of each drawing, but don't expect me to talk sense.



Adelaide, Adelaide, Adelaide the ghost girl -- her toes are springy and she loves to sit on the edge of things. She was brought up proper but constantly slips out of being a lady. She never grew up, really. And she never really, really died. She's just in between bodies.



She's looking at you, you know.



Thea is a dress-up-mix-and-match Lolita Goth kinda gal. She doesn't follow any rules, really. Why am I even trying to label her? She's her own kind of creature. She'd hate me putting her in a box. One thing she always wears: ribbons. She looks good in ribbons.



She didn't start out looking quite that ribbon-y...



The primary sketch had Thea in a more conventional tight jeans and sweater look. I'm still not sure what looks more dramatic. When I traced this down on bristol I really began to dislike the stiff against-the-fence pose because it resembled too many poses I see in magazines. I tend to be very inspired by fashion and collect many magazines. I didn't exactly want to advertise that fact. Inspiration, influences, what I see all the time, what I wish to look like... sometimes that bleeds into my drawings, into characters, into my writing.



As I write this, I'm listening to a lot of old school metal and I look at this drawing of Alexandre and realize I've given him hair band hair. Well, not really, it's just the music in my ears right now that's influencing what I'm writing. Alex does have a manly-man body here. He's really turning into a pretty boy. I like that. He's a pretty boy who likes to dress up like Thea does. He occasionally wears top hats, frock coats, and silk pants. People think he's fruit-loopy but actually he's got an eye for the old fashioned. He loves antiques. He's just inherited a very, very old and spooky house from his great aunt Marjolie. He hasn't had many sleepy nights since.



What has awakened Alex this time? Someday maybe I'll reveal that. For now you'll just have to stare into the blank parts of the paper a bit and imagine what monsters, demons, or ghosts are lurking behind Alex's head.



Speaking of monsters? Egads, friends, there isn't enough of them I can't draw, yet mine often show up with human faces first. Grimalkin (below) is looking rather chatty, doesn't she?



As I write, Motley Crue's song "Looks That Kill" is playing and I think Grimie really likes that song. I mean, she does have looks that kill, but not in the way you'd expect. Cuteness, petiteness, a silly smile, a slight glance of sharp teeth beyond pillowy lips glossed up bright and strawberry... You can easily write her off as harmless. As harmless as a kitten, right? She even wears a collar. She likes being petted, too, however... never, ever dare to underestimate her. One second she's all purr, the next she's towering over you like a mountain lion on steroids. Yowch.



Well, my classic hard rock soundtrack is still blaring into my ears and this time I'm listening to the tail end of Dokken's "Heaven Sent" -- we skip forward to "Dream Warriors" and Melusine here seems to step out of a smoke-filled music video set. I think she was a model during the 80's, but then again, she's been so many things over the years.



I rub my eyes and sigh. Have I drawn and written too much? Where is this all getting me? Am I just entertaining myself? I'm growing weary now with the weight of all the stories I long to tell. Maybe someday soon I'll get the green light to publish this stuff for real. Yeah. Some girls dream of prince charmings, I dream of getting my art and stories accepted for publication. Been having that dream for over twenty years now. I have to go home and dream some more.



Sometimes, but only sometimes, I wish I had a boyfriend or crush to write about. But lately every time I attempt to nurture a crush on someone, I grow disillusioned. I guess I can only handle romantic fantasies created by my own hands... OH, wait. Once again I've walked into an innuendo I didn't mean to make. *giggles* I'm outta here!

I've been obsessed with learning how to digitally color my black and white ink drawings in a way that doesn't appear flat. I love the effects you can do with Photoshop, but there are times when digital color just doesn't look good. Don't get me wrong, I love comic book covers with the fancy digital color work that breaks out of the old school four color mold, however... I just don't care for the flatness, the look that screams out "Hi, there! I'm digitally color enhanced but I'm not helping the look of the original drawing" because its all weirdly juxaposed and sloppily rendered. Plenty of folks can draw, but few can aim an air brush correctly, let alone a Photoshop brush tool. So usually I paint and forego playing with Photoshop because it seems better to just use a real brush as opposed to a virtual one. I've discovered, however, that there are times when I just don't have the patience to color or even paint my work. I'd like another professional to do it, but then... I begin to feel like I might lose control over the finish of the work. I want to have a hand in everything. I'm not a team player when it comes to my work!



So I've been experimenting and playing with the tools and instructions I've gleaned from Hi-Fi Color For Comics: Digital Techniques for Professional Results and, I gotta tell you, it's a bit too much for me to digest and try out in one sitting. My admiration for comic book colorers has doubled since I've been playing around here. I clearly don't have the patience for all this. Again, I like the techniques and all, I just don't care for the plastic, flat color work. There are other ways to create awe-inspiring colors, so for now I'm pleased with what little I've accomplished so far:





You can see where I'm going with this, but it's no where near done. The color adds some shimmer into life for these characters. I'm going somewhere with it, I just don't yet see the destination. That means I have to take time out and step away from the computer. I'll post more results when I have more energy later to devote myself to such a large task.