Just wanted to share some laughter on this holiday.

Double Teaming Baroness
[link]

Rude Awakening of Optimus Prime
[link]
(watch all of Dr Smoov's TF stuff)

TF Parody Compilation
[link]

GI Joe Fenslerfilms
[link]
(watch 'em all)

Merry XMas peeps.

I've decided to change my approach for commissions.

I will sell quick sketches with flat color and spot sfx for $10 each, kinda like megatron week.

I can do serious, comedy, slash, OC, pinups, action, anything! I can also design rough vehicle mode or upgrade your designs.

Simple BGs are also added depending on what type of request.

Just read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Something he wrote really stuck out. He looked into what it takes to build world-class skill, whether it be piano, sports, art, programmers, whatever. The similarity between them all? 10,000 hours of practice. Practice makes perfect? YES. It was true all along.

There's no such thing as talent to me. What is talent? Does it mean a guy with talent didn't work as hard to get where he is? Does it mean he got a lucky break in terms of genes?

Well maybe. But the fact is (or Malcolm Gladwell fact, take it with a grain of salt) he searched but he couldn't find an instance where a world-class skill was created with 8,000 hours cuz a person had talent. He found one case where someone got by with 9,000 hours. Fine. But someone who's just awesome that took only 2,000 hours to get somewhere others took 10,000 hours? It just doesn't happen.

So all you out there who don't get that "talent" label, who cares. Just keep practicing. Cuz there ain't no talent, just practice, dedication, preserverence. If you want to say talent is the ability to not get sick of all that practice, then I'll concede that. XD

I'm trying to draw 2-3 hours a night these days. Lovin it.

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Thanks to everyone for all the favs and comments. It's been wild with the Gun and the Sword and Megatron Week. This year has been special for me cuz I've never drawn this many comic pages in a year before. About 10 so far (based on A4 sized sheets). I've said it before but I want to be a storyteller!

I am also interested in giving more to the community, so if you guys have requests for tutorials on photoshop coloring or anything about art, lemme know.

And a small shout out cuz I'd like to open up for commissions again. $30 to $90. Note for details.

Yes I am alive. I still wake up, eat, go to work, piss, poo, eat junk food, get cavities. Just like you.

It's just you know I suffer from this thing called "SLOW ART". It sucks so much that I brainstorm almost every waking moment about how to speed up my art and give more to you guys/gals. Wish me luck...

So anyway, today I literally totally utterly finished Gun and the Sword. Yes. Unbelievably finished the sucker. I'll post it tomorrow cuz I'm too damned tired to post it and think of some clever description to go with it.

Man...what's up with art? It takes FOREVER! I guess it's proud for some people to say, "Hey boys and girls, I spent 500,000 hours on this, and I hope you like it!" (They take a look, fart, and go on with eating potato chips and watching reruns of Delta Force VII.)

Well I guess I am glad that I stuck with this project and other uber-time-consuming projects...better than nothing I guess. Maybe I am evolving in one way and that's being more patient.

If you care, each of those Gun and the Sword pieces involved:
1. sketches by hand (quick)
2. digital piecing together of the sketches (resizing, shrinking, cutting) in Photoshop (very quick)
3. lettering in Photoshop (very quick)
4. digital inks in Painter (slowwww)
5. digital flat colors in Photoshop (quick)
6. digital sfx in Photoshop (slowwwwwwwwwwww)

So you see what's slowing me down...

Anyway...

As 2009 comes to a close, I'm happy to say I spent 2009 so far on actual comics, not pinups. And I want to continue this trend in 2010. Though it means less frequency of art on dA, it means I'm getting better at what I really want to be, and that's being a storyteller.

In 2010, look for some of my original stuff to finally see the light of day as well.

But never fear, because before 2009 is out, you're going to see hopefully 2 more quick TF joke stories!

I just read 3 books in record time, 2 of which I guess are worth mentioning.

The first is Broken Music by Sting, a memoir. It is really great and has so many moments. It is similar in some ways to Angela's Ashes. If you liked that one you'll definitely love this one. The way he talks about love and relationships is very moving.

The second is Howl's Moving Castle, many of us know it as the Hayao Miyazaki animated movie, but I've always been a sucker for originals, and that was originally a little unknown novel by Diana Wynne Jones. Great book, almost nothing like the movie, yet still incredibly enjoyable.

Funny also to mention that Jones has another book called Castle in the Air...published 1990, after Laputa. Story is completely different...

Off to the library again soon...I'm having a major book fetish right now...need...books...

I should also say...I feel like I am sadly not trying hard enough with art. Reading Sting's early life and the struggles he went through and the unreal overconfidence and sacrifices and blind faith and courage he had...wow, he had such BALLS! I have no balls. I gotta get me some balls.

Anyway it's 3am and unsignificant as this journal is, it is what my brain needed to do before going to sleep...it is 3am.