Third Speedpaint

Kind of a blah rendition of the view from inside a cave. The experiment with detailing the rock didn't go so well, and I got a bit overzealous with my application of the moss/grass off to the left. The perspective of the puddle on the ground is all kinds of wrong too. I'd like to try painting some more imaginative pictures than just copying photos, but I don't think I've practiced enough to branch out on my own. Not sure that I'm actually improving here...

Ref - Rindi

Current song: Construction noises
Current mood: Overheated and sleepy

Second Speedpaint

Haha, I am so lazy. I enjoyed getting the tree trunks in, but I got bored with the leaves and gave up before I really even started on them. I like the colors I used here, even if they don't match the colors of the original photo very well. I think I've found a better brush for branches and trunks now, too - I was using something that was hard to control and very unnatural-looking for this piece.

Ref

- Rindi

Current song: None
Current mood: Calm

My First Speedpaint

The big reason that I decided to reboot this blog is that I need a place to post unpolished artwork. I tend to only upload the good stuff to DeviantArt, but that means that a lot of the things I doodle never make it online, and I want it to go somewhere. So, that means it's going here. :B

I'm not a very good artist, and it doesn't help that I stopped drawing for several months. I've been feeling woefully out of practice, and recently decided that I should try to combat that! I thought I'd try my hand at speedpainting; that is, a quickly painted picture that tries to grasp the idea/form/emotion of a scene, since I thought it would be a good exercise. Turns out, I am not very good at it - I have difficulty with finding the right brush for the job, and everything always comes out blurry. Plus, I am terribly slow. Of course, I don't expect to be an expert at something that I've never done before, so I hope that time and practice will result in some improvement!

This was my first attempt. I think that if I'd put some more time and effort into it, it would have come out looking pretty good. I gave up on detailing the trees in the middle distance, though. Sigh. I probably sank about an hour into this piece.

Ref

- Rindi

Current song: Moby's water bottle drinking noises are oddly rhythmic... Such a musical rat.
Current mood: Sleepy

Welcome Back (to you and me)

I didn't really think I was ever going to come back to this blog, but I've recently started some really pathetic attempts at speedpainting and I wanted some place to document them that wasn't my DeviantArt account (I try to keep the really awful stuff out of there). I considered starting a new blog, maybe a Tumblr or something, but I figured I'd drop by here first to see if the blog was completely irredeemable. Of course, the layout was hideous and awful, so I tossed that out and put up something basic in its place. Purple is probably not the right choice, but at least it's not impossible to read anymore. *eyeroll*

I actually got sucked into adding tags to my blog posts, because I added a little tag cloud widget (it's kind of ugly, but also fun to watch as I tag more posts). That took a few hours, and I've only covered up through my first trip to Japan, so I guess the cloud's going to change once I get into all the college posts. I didn't really want to come back to this blog because I was cringing at the thought of rereading the posts, but they actually ended up being quite interesting! I'm really glad that I kept a journal of my Japan trips because I've liked reading back on the various anecdotes. I'm sad about losing all the photos, though. My MIT site has been gone for a very long time now.

A quick little update about me: in the years since I last posted, I switched from pet hamsters to pet rats, married the love of my life, and switched from the PS2 to the Xbox 360. :] I'm still drawing and making clay dragons, and I like to think that maybe I've gotten a little bit better. I have grandiose dreams of making a comic, but I haven't really gotten that off the ground yet. I still attend several anime conventions every year, but these days it's as an artist in the Artists' Alley. I thought I was over anime and manga, but I thought Puella Magi Madoka Magica was pretty good, and I catch myself skimming through a manga series every once in a while. I am also slightly ashamed to say I enjoy My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and that Rarity is my favorite pony.

Anyway, hello again, and here's hoping that I'll keep posting here for a while yet!

- Rindi

Current song: None
Current mood: Exhausted

Hilarious

Wow, my dad is happily playing DDR with my mom. He's always been mock scornful of the game - I think he was just intimidated. He's very gamely plowing through the Light 3's right now, though. I'm so proud of him. :'D

- Rindi

Current song: KC & the Sunshine Band - Shake Your Booty
Current mood: Amused

Update?!

Heh, looks like this is the first time I've thought of my blog in exactly a year. Poor, neglected thing. Well, some things have changed and some have not. I'm still in school, still looking for another place to relocate to, and still doing internships for too little pay. But on the other hand, I now have a hamster, have found the love of my life, and have discovered the joy of English-language PS2 games. That... pretty much sums things up.

No word yet on whether my drawing has improved with time or not - Brett would say 'yes', but I am doubtful. And don't even ask whether I'm going to get my clay dragon site up and running any time soon. Anyway, it's nice to drop by and see the blog once in a while, even if no one else does.

Here's to another year of non-blogging!

- Rindi

Current song: None
Current mood: Dazed

*ninja post*

It is entirely possible to improve at IIDX through practice. Somehow I had forgotten this... But now I think I'm back on track. I'm still quite terrible, but at least it's getting easier to read higher speeds and stuff.

Still looking for a place to live. Still doing my summer internship. And I'm definitely quite grateful that it hasn't been too hot recently. Other that that... yeah. Life goes on.

- Rindi

Current song: Cosmic Gate - Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Current mood: Antsy