The Eyes Have It

A break from GAfilk reports...



Since I started drawing/painting for money, I realize I've cut way down on drawing for the pure fun of it. Blatherings is my "fun" writing outlet (as opposed to paid assignments), and I'm determined to keep drawing for fun as well.

I suspect some of you other artsy-creative types may feel similarly -- writing or drawing to someone else's specifications is a completely different animal from writing or drawing for the pure fun of it. I could be drawing EXACTLY THE SAME THING as something I'd doodle on my own, but if it's because I -have- to do it, it's work.

So not only am I going to keep doodling for doodling's sake, but I'm also going to keep experimenting with different styles. A cartoon-y style seems to suit me the best right now, but it doesn't mean I can't keep experimenting and learning more about other styles and techniques.



Hence the eye drawing above! I was trying to draw a realistic face and realized that I totally suck (did I mention before I sorely lack formal training??). So I figure it's about time I get practice drawing individual elements first before trying to put them all together.

For this drawing, I followed this eye tutorial. I used the Chalk brush in Corel Painter since I figured it was also a good chance to learn how to use that tool as well. My eye isn't nearly as good as one in the tutorial, but it's a heckuva lot better than my own attempts.

The tutorial also spurred me to try the "Soft Light" composite option in Corel Painter, which I've never tried before -- I usually opt for the Default or Gel. Next, I need to practice drawing different types of eyes. Longterm goal: learn how to draw realistic eyes without a reference.

And once again I marvel at the wealth of info and learning opportunities made available by the Web. Yes, there are downsides, but as far as I'm concerned, they're far outweighed by the benefits.



This weekend I'm hoping to start catching up on a ream of favours and commitments I've promised particular people, including LJ user icons, CD blurbs, bookmarks, mini-bios, cartoons, drawings, posts and paintings, as well as at least one custom song I donated at an Interfilk auction ages ago (but am still waiting for details). My goal is to get most of these off my plate within the next couple of months.

If you think I've forgotten something I owe you (I'm talking about specific commitments, not the mega-long general LJ user icon wish list), feel free to remind me!

Speaking of long-overdue favours, here's a poem I owe Thesilee, long overdue from a meme I volunteered for back in 2006! (I very rarely commit to memes and 'tag me' memes but I couldn't resist this one)

A SILLY POEM FOR THESILEE
(with some badly botched German, even!)

I like to doodle
and ask for a *knuddel*
from you even though your time may often be booked
With a *schluchz* and a *schnief*
I turn over a new leaf
with a *hüpfspringrumtanzknuddelwieverrückt*!

THE END



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GAfilk part 4: Peter Beagle, Tom Smith, Brian Richardson

I created the above illustration for Illustration Friday. This week's topic: "Plain."

My GAfilk report thus far: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and here's Part 4....

GAfilk doesn't have as many concerts as other filk conventions (contributing to its 'relaxacon' reputation). I spent more time socializing than I did in the concert room; I know I missed some good music as a result but one of the things I've learned about enjoying conventions is to accept the fact that I HAVE TO MISS STUFF. Here are photos from some of the concerts I did attend:



I had no idea that Peter Beagle (author of The Last Unicorn, among other works) was also a musician! Peter was the Super Secret Special Guest at GAfilk this year, filling in for Meg Davis, who had to cancel out because of medical reasons.



In addition to having a Super Secret Guest every year, GAfilk also has a tradition of a "Concom's Choice Concert," where the convention committee chooses someone in the community to do a concert. This year, they asked Tom Smith.

I don't mention Tom much in my Blatherings because I've been assuming that everyone already knows about him, but I realize this may not be the case. :-) Tom is one of the few in the filking community who has successfully made the transition to being a full-time musician in the Real World.

He's an extraordinary songwriter, and has gained the reputation for being the world's fastest filker...I've seen him write an entire parody of a song before the other person has finished performing it!

Tom has several blogs, including iTom: Free Music From Tom Smith (part of his Song-A-Week project) and his Livejournal. You can also find him on MySpace and The Funny Music Project, and his main site at Tom Smith Online.

My favourite Tom Smith songs include Superman Sex Life Boogie,
A Boy And His Frog, Fenton The Death Sheep From Hell, and Five Years (I haven't watched Babylon Five but I still love the wordplay here!).



The Toastmaster at GAfilk was Brian Richardson. I met Brian through Play It With Moxie (more on PIWM in an upcoming Blathering) but until this convention, I had no idea how entertaining and well-spoken he could be. He's the videography producer at Dragon*Con and (along with several other staff members) creates DragonConTV.

He showed us several of the videos during his Toastmaster spot, and they're pretty entertaining. You can download the videos to see for yourself.

Some Dragon*Con TV samples I found on YouTube:

Food Pyramid
Computers Make Things Easy
The Rainbow Connection (Lovecraft style)



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Gafilk Part 3: The Brobdingnagian Bards

Busybusy. As I've mentioned before, I'm using Scrivener to work on my graphic novel. After much research and several false attempts, I've finished background notes, character notes and a plot arc for the series as well as the first book. Instead of writing the first book from start to finish, though, I'm writing scenes instead.

I can picture certain scenes in my head that I want included, so I'm writing the scripts for those first; when I'm finished scripting the scenes, I'll arrange them into logical order and then fill in missing scenes to make up the chapters.

It's not how I write my novels but this method feels much more natural for me; hopefully it'll all work out in the end. :-)

But back to my GAfilk report! Continuing from Part 1 and Part 2, here's Part 3...



Thanks to Interfilk, GAfilk got The Brobdingnagian Bards (pronounced brob-din-nahg-EE-en) this year, a Celtic Renaissance music duo from Austin, Texas whose members are Marc Gunn (autoharp and vocals) and Andrew McKee (recorder, mandolin, vocals).

Andrew:


Marc:


I had never heard of them before GAfilk and found their performance highly entertaining, full of humor and energy. The Bards apparently have a huge following, especially at DragonCon, a big media convention in Atlanta. And of course their following is even bigger now, after GAfilk!

The Bards are on MySpace, an official Web site, were ranked as one of the top 20 bands on the original MP3.com, were headliners at the Oscar party for the The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and even have their own comic strip! I notice Marc's also on MySpace and on Livejournal.



Marc was one of my favourite photographic subjects at GAfilk. Partly because he wasn't camera-shy at all (the opposite, in fact :-D) but mainly because he was always so animated and having fun.

Here he is with VoiceOfKiki (I have no idea what they're doing and I'm not going to ask):



With Tanya Huff:



The Bards were also very good sports during the Interfilk auction; I suspect they had never attended one before, but learned about "wenching" very quickly. :-D

'Twas also fun to sit in on an Irish music session Saturday afternoon with Andrew, Mary and Amy:



Above: one of the things I love about GAfilk -- with only one track of programming and lots of "breaks," there are plenty of opportunities for impromptu music jams to spring up here and there, like the one above.

Anyway, I enjoyed meeting both Marc and Andrew and hope to see the Bards perform again sometime.

You can see my GAfilk photos on Flickr.




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GAfilk report (part 2)

In my last Blathering post, I mentioned that one of our Squirrelbuster feeders was busted. Well, the company wrote back right away and said they were going to send me a replacement ring. In fact, turns out that the rings for an older version of the Squirrelbuster feeders was made of METAL, so I'm going to try that out.

Our neighbourhood squirrels are going to be SO frustrated. Heh.

GAfilk report so far: Part 1. Here's Part 2...



The GoHs at the convention were Maya and Jeff Bohnhoff. I first saw the Bohnhoffs perform out on the West coast years ago, and was blown away. Jeff has come to visit; he and my Jeff got along right away...they're both Apple technogeeks and also like similar types of music. As I posted back then, it was pretty clear to me that I could easily walk away from their conversation and neither of them would notice. :-)

I've visited the Bohnhoffs a couple times since, with and without my Jeff, and can say without hesitation that Jeff and Maya are just as nice/cool at home as they seem to be at conventions. We try to get together whenever we can, but unfortunately this isn't nearly as often as I'd like. Geography sucks sometimes.



Here's a cartoon I made to accompany the bio I wrote about the Bohnhoffs in the GAfilk program book:



Anyway, the Bohnhoffs' concert was fantastic. They both put so much energy into their performance, and I could listen to Maya sing forever. As for Jeff's guitar skills -- well, I'm convinced that he must be faking it somehow. There's a tiny machine with loudspeakers inside his guitar(s), and he's just going through the motions. That has to be the case, else his fingers should be falling off during some of those wailing guitar solos.

I'm jealous of those attending the British Filk convention this year because they get the Bohnhoffs as guests! Jeff and Maya are also going to be at Duckon (Naperville, Illinois) in June.

More GAfilk highlights coming soon.

Meanwhile, here are a few more fridge magnets I've posted in my Etsy store recently:



I'll be posting more Valentine-themed paintings in the next day or two, like You Always Seem To Know Exactly What I Need.



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GAfilk (part 1) and a busted Squirrel Buster

Got back from GAfilk late last night. It was truly a relaxacon for me this year...I had zero commitments and spent my time attending some of the concerts, hanging out and chatting, listening to music, sometimes noodling along on my flute.

Many kudos and thanks to the GAfilk concom, who always do a fantastic job at making this convention unique in its atmosphere and programming. I'm going to write more about GAfilk once I've caught up with work and e-mail a bit, but felt compelled to do a mini-rant about (surprise surprise) squirrels first.

The t-shirt pictured at the top of the page was a gift from my friend Mary Crowell, whose band Play It With Moxie is featured every year at GAfilk's Saturday banquet and dance. Here's a photo I took of Mary this past weekend:

Anyway, the t-shirt is especially appropriate because I came home to find our Squirrel Buster feeder was VANDALIZED BY SQUIRRELS WHILE I WAS GONE. The furry little beasts have chewed enough of the plastic ring (which the birds perch on) so that the metal screws won't properly fit anymore, and the ring falls off.

In other words, the squirrels have managed to figure out how to keep the birds out of the seed even though they still can't get at the seed themselves.

Grrrr.

Jeff has used some wire for a temporary fix, but I've also written to Brome, the company that made the Squirrel Buster, and let them know as well ask if those plastic rings are available separately. I've also helpfully pointed out that entering the term "squirrelbuster" in Google turns up my Blathering post as the first result right now.

Speaking of customer service, remember I posted that my copy of Cybele's secret was missing pages? Well, I wrote to Pan Australia and the publisher is going to send me a new copy, yay!

More on GAfilk soon. I'm also gradually uploading some of my photos from the weekend to my Flickr set, for those interested.

By the way, I've added some more Dirty/Clean dishwasher signs to my Etsy shop, if you're interested (see the left-hand sidebar pics on this page).

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