Birthday • 1981-01-09 Gender •
Male Location • on Gaea, gazing at the Mystic Moon Member Since • 2003-08-30 Occupation • Don't Ask Real Name • Hal
Personal
Achievements • None to speak highly of Anime Fan Since • Escaflowne aired on Fox. Favorite Anime • Escaflowne, Last Exile, InuYasha, Wolf's Rain, Rurouni Kenshin, Cowboy Bebop, and Full Metal Alchemist to name just a few. Goals • Learn to draw anime style pictures and to speak Japanese Hobbies • Anime, reading, writing, drawing, and music Talents • Special effects make-up
myOtaku.com: CosmicSailor
Welcome to my site archives. 10 posts are listed per page.
My first attempt at an e-card. I didn't even think I could make those till I tried and it went through here. No surprise it's an inspirational card given that a lot of people tell me I'm good for that kind of thing. So right now, my portfolio is diversifying into areas other than wallpaper and fan art. Maybe someday I'll have something in each active category. For the record, this project wasn't on my list, it came ot me spur of the moment so I had to do it. As with my other non fan art content, I made it in Pixia.
Courage Dear Heart Hosted By theOtaku.com. Also got an new piece of art to shamelessly plug. the caption info provides the details on it, so I won't bother repeating them here. No, this was not one of the listed projects, but it was important enough for me to draw. With it done, I can direct my attention back to the infamous list of overdue projects. Hopefully, I'll have something to show for that really soon. I am already at work on the highest priority project on the list and will have it finished soon.
I don't know if anyone noticed or not, but I've added a button in the fotter of my blog. That button is linked to the Role Play forum I've been on for a long time. They recently moved to new software, and things are looking good at the moment. I'm not as active on there as I'd like to be either, but I'm not hard to find, I go by cosmictraveller there. I was going to bring that up a while ago, but kept forgetting all about it till just now.
And last, but no least, I know you all are wondering how the Tattoo came out, well there's the finished product. I may have the color touched up in spots, I really like how it came out. The blue I chose was better than I expected it to be, in the bottle it looked a little lighter than it went on, which I'm happy about, I wanted a dark, rich blue, what other color suits the wind so well? Anyway, a lot of you did recognize the Kanji "kaze" (wind) which didn't surprise me at all. I'm sure some of you are wondering "if he's a dragon, why did he have 'wind' tattooed on himself not 'dragon'?" Well, there's a reason for that, a couple actually. Aside from that beign the test tattoo to see if I take ink and "pain" (tattooing really tickles more than it hurts), I have a bit of an issue when it comes to wind. Long story short, wind scares me to no end, especially high winds like during a storm. It's kind of a psychological thing for me really, kind of my joining spirits with the wind that scares me, and hopefully pulling some strength from it instead of fear. We'll just have to wait and see.
Yep, you got the Kanji spot on. I just explained why I chose "wind" as my first tattoo right above this, I hope that answers your question. As for the dragon, that's going to go somewhere else on me, either my other arm, maybe my back, or one of my legs. This Kanji tattoo was a test tattoo to see if I could take the needle mostly, my sister's friend didn't think I could handle the discomfort. He also needed to see if my skin would take and hold the ink. My sister's skin doesn't like to take ink that well, so he wasn't sure how I would fare in that area.
Oh no, I'm far from achieving that level of enlightenment. I know what you mean about having that feeling though. I have to have that feeling to be able to start a picture, I can't force myself to begin a new project that I don't feel like doing. The problem I have is keeping at the project once I start. I'm too easily distracted by things, so I kind of have to force myself to sit down and do the pictures all at once otherwise nothing would ever get done.
You can alsways go back and answer them if you want. I did that more to challenge people's minds than annything else.
As it stands, I have one piercing in my left ear, and the kanji tattoo on my right arm. It's highe enough up the arm that I can cover it up with a short sleeve shirt for like a job intevrview or another time I need to be "professional" in appearance. I don't have any "unusual" piercings or tattoos either, and I don't think I want anything like that. I'm still having trouble using the term pain to describe the sensation of being tattooed, it doesn't physcially hurt all that much. It is uncomfortable for the body, but it's not really painful. Best I can describe it would be to compare it to a mild-to-moderate sundburn in terms of what it feels like while the needle is being used. The itch is probably the most uncmfortable thing about it. As the tattoo heals, it itches like crazy, but it can't be scratched, that'll pull the ink off. I think the most unnerving thing to a first timer in terms of getting a tattoo though is probably the buzzing the needle gun makes. I know when I was getting the lining for mine done last week, that's what was getting to me the most, that buzzing.
Most often I have little trouble getting started, I could sit here, read a comment and suddenly pop an idea comes to me and I rough it out on printer paper in like two minutes. My trouble is keeping focused once I start. Like I mentioned to Hop-Frog, I'm easily distracted by things and that makes it difficult to concentrate on getting a piece done. Once in a while though, I do fall into that butter zone and things move along quickly for me without my even having to push myself. I'm hoping I can hit that with even a few of my projects that are due.
Mostly, I try to stay away from convention coverage because it's exhausting for me to try to relate to that material, not having had the experience of a convention myself. I'm trying to get to Tsubasacon this year, that's the clostest convention to where I live. I won't really know for sure till the last possible minute if I'll be going or not, so no promises at the moment. For me, commenting that I "wish I could have been there" just isn't really doing it anymore. the convention experience is something I won't be able to fully appreciate until I see it first hand.
Not much I can offer on the AX statements.
Yeah, I'm going to study up some designs, and would appreciate if anyone sees andy nice Japanese dragon pictures (tattoo or not) to direct me to them.
Actually, there are several Kanji for Dragon that I am aware of, all pretty much sound the same, but are used in different contexts. You have "tora" (I think that's tiger if I recall). on your right arm in almost the same color pallate as my "kaze"? Wow that is frightfully freaky. Mine's on my right arm at the shoulder (to be covered up with a short sleeve shirt if necessary). I don't think the outlining on mine took all that long, but's it's a lot of really long straight lines so it's not that hard to do. The coloring did take a while, and it'll need some touching up too as you can see in the picture. I don't know if bleeding means the needle was set too deep or not, I'll have to run that by my sister's friend, he's good with the gun and knows a thing or two about the art. My guess is the needle went in too deep. Given that I'm a guy, and 26 years old, I think I qualify for the grown man descriptor, but see, I have this odd personality trait. I come off as a timid, and weak constitutioned person in real life most of the time, but that meek exterior hides a wealth of personal strength that I can tap when I need it, which is what I did when I got that needle. The guy who did my tattoo(my sister's friend) told me he was surprised that I took it as well as I did, which, to be honest, so was I. I admitted that to him when he was done the coloring.
My second tattoo will probably be my last (though I won't rule out a third one, "kaze" was just the technical test), and it'll be a dragon that I design myself. I'll be looking at a lot of pictures over the next week or so to put together a really nice piece of lineart to transfer. Depending on the size (I don't want anything too big given that he's doing them for nothing and that ink is expensive), It'll either go on my left arm, or a leg, though I won't rule out my back either. I was born in the year of the monkey, but that Kanji didn't really appeal to me, so I chose kaze instead. Dragon would have been the predicable one for me to get, what with my online persona and all, but, I like to keep people on their toes a little so I didn't go with that one.
I haven't seen Miami Ink, but then again, I'm not really into the tattoo sub-culture. You know how some people are all about the ink and the artform, that's not me. I have my resons for getting this Kanji, as well as the dragon I'm designing, but it's not to find my place among the tattooed in society. I mean no offense to anyone when I say that, it's just that culture is not who I am.
Funny, I never really thought of it like that. I don't see my style drastically changing mid-work if I take a break from it. Often times I'll end up starting from scratch if I left a pic too long and can't seem to get it jumping again.
I don't mind discussing either, but art is more my forté.
I haven't even started drawing it yet, so I don't know. but I know the needlwwork will be great no matter what I turn out.
If you've ever had a bad sunburn, if you've ever scraped your knee, or if you've ever been stung by a wasp, bee, or fire ant, you can handle a tattoo needle. I have to admit something though. While I can take the "pain" I can't actually watch the needlework being done. Seeing a needle getting stuck into me, that makes me queasy.
I have some tribal dragon flash that looks really cool, but I'm not into the tribal thing in terms of tattooes being done on me. I'm taking as much reference material as I can to be able to produce the best looking dragon tattoo flash I can, and tribal dragons are good for postitive/negative space studies.
That's right, and as you can see, the blue looks great for the meaning of the symbol.
In my family, only my Dad is bothered by the tattoo, of course he's an ordained minister so I understand his reasoning for being less than enthusiastic about it. The extended family might be a little surprised at it when they find out, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. My mom's got the lining for a dolphin on her leg (coloring to be done next week), my sister probably has more tattoos than she cares to admit but I know of three for sure, and I've got the Kanji right now, with the dragon on the way. It's a family affair for us, I think we're all wild spirited in some way or another. I can't say that I'd go out and keep on getting tattooes after getting these two done, I'm not sure that would reflect on my personality very well, but I can say that it is an experience I'm better for having gone through.
Hope you enjoyed the picture, it will need to be recoleored, and of course, when the dragon is in the works, I'll have pictures of it up here too.
Really? That's a neat little bit of info to share with me about that kanji. That's cool. My nick-name Hal, translates to a two Kanji string which didn't really appeal to me, and I don't really need my nick-name tattooed on me anyway.
It wasn't painful to me at all. As I said before, I have reserve of strength I draw upon when I need it, so I may just be able to tolerate something like that more than someone else. I do know that the level of discomfort depends upon the part of the body getting the tattoo, some areas are more sentitive than others.
A belated Happy Birthday to your father, hope you got to meet him already, if not, hope you can real soon.
That is nick-name I like the sound of, and you know, it's fitting given that my username in a couple places is phantomzephyr (zephyr being the west wind of course :P).
You've just given me a valuable piece of help in the design process of the dragon tattoo. It may seem like a little thing, but your advice will guide me in the right direction. Interesting enough, while green is my favorite color, I hit on the "black gray" you mentioned. That one feels right to me. Black is too dark, and green, like I said is a nice color, but it's not the inner me, I can feel that. My personality is very much like a thunderstorm, dark and brooding, yet peaceful and serene at the same time. I've got a brainstorm to work with now, I hope the image comes out how I want it.
I've got a plan in motion to get all those overdue pictures done. Hopefully, I'll get them finished soon because I have some more longer term projects I'd like to put my attention into.
I know I'm missed, that's why I'd like to update more often, to let you guys know I'm all right. I don't get around to pages like I want to, but I do try, and I'm not stressing out over it. I'll get my routine back soon enough.
A lot of other people have covered it already, but it reads "kaze" which means wind. I'm sure you'll remember it now, cause the tattoo will come to mind when you see the kanji anywhere.
I've missed a few of your posts so no problem there. We all miss a post now and again.
I'll just have to see if my plan to get them done works. If it does, I'll be back in the swing before you know it.
I know that feeling. Most of the reason I've been offlien the past few weeks has been pop-up inclement weather. I never run my computer durting a storm, and they like to hit when I'm trying to be online usually.
Very true, I wouldn't have chosen a character that didn't in some way reflect my personality. It reads kaze, which means wind.
You know, I actually thought of that, having had one interviewer directly challenge me on the earring, I wasn't going to make the mistake of having a tattoo in an obvious place. That's why the kanji is actually on my right arm up at the shoulder. Even if I have a short-sleeve shirt on, the tattoo will be completely out of sight. It's only visible when I've got a sleeveless shirt on and I woudln't wear something like that to a job interview anyway. I won't ever get a tattoo in a place that's not easy to conceal for the very reason of hiding it from job interviewers. I have enough trouble getting a job without helping myself do worse at it.
I don't really care what anyone else thinks of it, or the dragon either. That's not my reason for getting them done. I have my reasons which are kind of personal, and I won't be swayed by anyone from doing it. The discomfort isn't easy to really describe, I can tell you getting burned by hot cooking oil, being spattered by bacon grease, or even being burned by steam hurts much worse than tattooing. Being clawed or bitten by cats hurts worse, bee stings, ant bites, those are more painful. Stepping on a thumbtack or broken glass, that's more painful, taking a bicycle's handlebars across the chest, that hurts more, and having a TV fall onto your chest, that's much more painful. There's a lot out there that's more painful than being tattooed, but the only real way to know if you can take it would be to have someoen you know with a tattoo gun and some extra sterile needles actually give you a dry buzz (run the needle without ink). That'll give you an idea what it feels like. I will warn you ahead of time that getting the tattoo is the easy part, keeping yourself from scratching out the ink as it itches like mad while the wound heals up, that's probably the hardest part of the whole thing.
That sounds like a really neat concept. Fore people who are close like that, I can see it being a meaningful gesture to both of them. Whether you decide to do it or not, you're lucky to have each other.
That sounds like something my classmates in school would say, back then I was a real pansy and they made sure I knew it all the time. I hope this thing is more permanent than not, because, even though it's a test tattoo, I like the way it looks, and I'd like to have it for years to come. Yeah, mine's on my right arm, just below the shoulder.
The dragon isn't going with the Kanji, the Kanji was just to see if I could take the needle without passing out or something. with that one successfully complete, I can design up a dragon that will go on me somewhere, and I'll post pictures of it when it's ready.
There is kind of a stinging burn to the process, I'd say it's more like someone with long fingernails pinching the heck out of your skin, it doesn't really feel all that deep. With the way my sister's fridnd was talking, I thought it would be like my gasteritis (for anyone who had gall stones and you gallbaldder removed, you know what I'm talking about), which felt like my stomach got ripped out, heck I've felt any number of things that were more painful. I will say the itch that follows as the tattoo heals up is insane, but it's worth it.
I suppose that would be a problem, mine was a shaky arm when the guy was doing the lining. He had to stop a couple time to let me rest because I wat twitching so much the lines almost weren't straight. Gettign the color wasn't as troublesome cause I knew what to expect. As long as I don't watch the needle going into my skin, I'm fit as a fiddle.
Yeah, I have to agree that the revelation I experienced while getting the needle was probably a bit odd for the situation, but it is pretty much the truth. The body and mind often struggle over things, and the trick is to get the mind to win out over the body to get things done.
Yep, that's it. A lot of people who visit me are familiar with that kanji. I shoudln't be surprised as this is an animé site. Aichmophobia huh? I can unserstand that. Knowing there's a needle coming, and that buzzing the gun makes probably would be unsettling to some people. i can tell you I was nervous when I got the lining done on mine, the sound of the gun still puts me on edge a little.
Try Celestial Seasonings "Sleepytime" tea, Bigelow "Sweet Dreams" tea, or Full Circle "nighttime blend" tea. If you're into organic foods, the Full Circle brand is the way to go. those all have chamomile in them, but they have some other tea ingredients that help relax the mind and body. Never sweeten tea with bleached sugar (white sugar), always use raw sugar or honey, those are much easier on the stomach. Hopefully one of those will help you relax enough to get some rest.
Thanks, and being 26, I don't have to worry about what my parents don't want me to do. I do think my Dad isn't too happy with the idea, but I am a man unto myself. It didn't hurt all that much no. The most discomfort I've gone through is the persistent itching as the tattoo heals. Scratching the tattoo while it's healing will pull the ink out, so it's kind of uncomfortable because I just have to tolerate the itch. You know, it's the people who think they can't handle something like that who usually turn out to be the strongest people.
The Kanji reads kaze, which means wind. Thanks, I like how it completed tattoo came out, that blue is better than I hoped it would be.
Thank you, I'm sure she'll appreciate the kindness.
With the ambiguous username, and a track record of being called a girl, I thought it best to share one of my faces (no camera has caught my dragon face yet) with you.
I'm still a little slow to action, but I'm working on getting back in full. We get around when we can anymore it seems. Hopefully, I'll get around to you more often.
As you can see from the picture, it's finished, though it might need some touch up work in a few days, it was completed on Sunday (Jul 22).
I'll let her handle the details in her next update, but the well wishes are appreciated I'm sure.
Don't Let The Sound of Your Own Wheels Drive You Crazy
I'm sure a lot of you are wondering by now what the purpose of the last post's question session was about. Well, my primary intent was actually to stimulate your thinking processes. I hope no one minds that I won't be addressing individual answers, I just wanted to ask some things that were weighing on my mind. I do appreciate all the feedback, especially related to the username links. I think for now I'll keep them as is, but should someone turn their blog page off, I'll change their link to their portfolio. That will keep things sane for me anyway.
I'm not really sure how many people I mentioned it to on here, but I did promise some pictures of my tattoos as I got them, so far, this is all I got for you. Three cheers to the person who can tell me what that kanji reads. Actually, that outline is the unfinished tattoo. I was kind of jittery from having way too much caffeine when my sister's friend was doing it so I asked him to hold off on coloring it till next week when I'll be more sane and sober. It'll be filled in with a nice shade of blue, and yes, I'll post a pic of the completed tat. When that's done (and after some time), I'll be getting a dragon done, I'm still deciding if I should go with a regular piece of flash, or do up my own dragon for it.
I do have to say I learned something about tattoos, more importantly, the possible mindset of the people who have that kind of thing done to themselves. The physical pain is not all that tremendous, it didn't really hurt me all that much. Maybe I have a higher threshhold for it than others, I don't know. The challenge lies not with accepting the physical discomfort of the needle, however it lies in forcing the body not to react to what it knows is not normal. The body's instinct is to pull away from the discomfort, but the mind knows that discomfort has a purpose, so it refuses to let the body retreat. That balance is a tough one to find, but once you have it, there's no limit to what you can accomplish. I think I can apply that same mental methodology to my art projects. If I force myself to sit down and work on the art, regardless of my body's desire to get up and walk around, or whatever, I know I can get things done. I have one piece done already, a piece I didn't have on the list, but it's done having applied that method I discovered through having the tattoo being done. I certainly hope I don't have to get a tattoo or something every time I get behind in my artwork to get that spark of motivation to get things done.
I do have a special wish to put out there today, Kiki-tink's father goes in for surgery tomorrow. Keep her and her whole family in your thoughts and so on. Tink, I'm not nearly good enough with my own words when it's important to speak my own mind, but this is as close to what I'd like to say as I can possibly find:
If you need anything at all, you know how to contact me.
If you're asking about who I think you are, last I knew she was all right. I don't get over to dA as often as I'd like either, I had 50some things to take care of last time I was there a few days ago. Weather and ISP permitting, I'll get over there more often as I pick up the pace here again. I will try to get on here more often, and get updates out more often as well, my enemy this week has been the weather. Just today it kicked me offline at least twice so even getting this post up was a miracle.
Yeah, they didn't all come to me at once, actually I was going to split those three parts over three posts, but given my record of consistency here lately, I thought I'd better get them out of the way ASAP. I do appreciate you taking the time to answer them, and try some Chamomile tea for that insomnia.
Getting in gear isn't the hard part for me, I get inspirations for artwork and stories all the time. Staying in gear is what trips me up usually. I tend to be easily distracted by things, so actually, being kicked offline a couple times this week has been a help in getting me to sit down and work on some projects, though I have nothing to show for it right now, I should have something soon.
It certainly has been a while, but I'm trying to get back into the swing of things here, and it seems I am for the most part. Thanks for taking the time with the questions. I appreciate all the feedback.
I'm well rested now, thanks for the concern. Yeah, it's been a while. I'm trying to get around to sites again as much as possible. I think I got to most of them that updated yesterday/today today, and maybe a few that were older, but still needed me to pop in and say "hey, I'm still kickin'"
You know, I have to agree with you there. I do push myself way too hard and wonder why I'm so worn out all the time. I think a day off now and then will actually help me get things done more efficiently. I will try to get as many of the projects online somewhere, be it here, my photobucket album, or on dA, whereever they are, I'll be sure to get links to everyone here because, I kind of like showing off my work, even if I don't think it's the best.
That's all right, it's sometimes smarter to put eggs in as many baskets as possible. I'm kind of going in five or so directions with that whole thing at the moment, so it's not super important that I get that info. More and more it's looking like I'm going to have to self-publish anyway. I don't really have the time or energy to deal with courting publishers and/or literary agents to promote or publish my work. Thing of self-publishing is, I'll have to wait till I have an income to do it.
I think for me it's the humidity that really saps my energy. That's a great suggestion that I'll consider. I do need to get myself into better shape than I am in, and I know what you mean, it doesn't make sense but a little bit of healthy activity does seem to boost the energy levels in the long run.
There's no time limit on these, you get around here when you can. I hope you had an enjoyable visit and your mom's birthday was full of good cheer. Don't worry about the answers, every one is a big help to me, and I understand you not being able to cover them all. Not eveyone reads the main page. Thanks for doing your best with them, I appreciate the feedback.
The syndication posting won't begin until next post possibly, I'm too tired to log into four places and post tonight. I've been so caught up in things again that I haven't been around again. I'm trying to get the energy and drive up to get to everyone, but it seems the summer really just sucks my energy out of me. I'll try to get caught up with everyone this week, but no promises right now. My main focus is still on those projects I still haven't finished a single one of yet. I'll get the tempo down again soon I hope.
I have a few questions for everyone, on various topics. They kind of came to me over the course of many days as I tried to work on my art projects and take care of some other things that needed to be done. I'll be asking stuff about my format here, about artwork, and other things too.
Questions Part 1: Formatting
In comment answers, has linking usernames directly to MyOtaku user pages been a positive influence, a negative one, or is there no noticable difference?
Would anyone notice a change in the linking procedure I use for my comment answers?
If a change were made, which change would be preferred:
Linking to user portfolio?
Removing link completely?
Is there a convenience factor to having links directly to user pages or portfolios?
Questions Part 2: Artwork
What are some of the ways you have used to motivate yourself to work on a project that wasn't getting done?
Have you ever been afraid to finish a piece because it might not turn out how you see it in your mind?
Questions Part 3: News
Much of the source material for this section is actually from Adam's recent post detailing his Main Page News Strategy See that post for complete information. Other information comess from TheOtaku.com's main page. I recommend reading the post before attemtping to answer these questions.
Do you read the news on TheOtaku.com's main page?
If so, would you be interested in seeing news items like:
"Man Creates Super Smash Brothers Characters Out Of Legos"
"Write a haiku to capture the essence about your favorite anime" or
Is it a good idea to take the focus of the main page off of serious anime/gaming industry news?
How do you feel theotaku.com would be affected by opinion-based fan "expert" content being featured?
Would your view of the news and/or site be affected by seeing less serious news items?
Would you be more or less likely to read the main page news with less serious news items on it?
I'm kind of curious to see the answers to these, but don't feel you have to answer them. it's sort of an informal survey if you will.
Comments:
Many apologies, but I'm not handling individual comments this time around. I did read them all and I appreciate all the advice, well wishes, and comments that you all have given me. I probably will not update the blog again for a while as I will be working on my art projects, but I will get around to as many sites as I can soon.
I won't start with this post, but my next update will be syndicated across all the sites I blog at. I'll put the links up when I begin doing that.
I don't have a whole lot to talk about this time around, but I will provide an updated project status list for you.
Project Status
Name
Done
Not Done
Username Inspired Image
X
Lizardman Soda Jerk
X
Art Piece for Nephew
X
Art Piece for Other Nephew
X
Art Piece for Niece
X
"Surprise" Art Piece for dA
X
Chinese Ink Art Piece for Sister's Friend (I'm still learning how to do this artform)
X
"Surprise" Art Piece for TheO (Still not telling :-ţ)
X
Requested piece for friend
X
Requested piece for another friend
X
Find Publisher for novel
X
Help Mom get business off the ground
X
Visit user sites here
X
Wish I had more for you all, but I don't at the moment. I will try to have more up in a more reasonable timeframe, but I can't promise what that timeframe will be anymore. I will be staying off MyO this weekend, and into next week to try avoiding all the AX nonsense. I just don't have the heart to put up with any of that this year.
I'll update my blog with a thumbnail for it when I finally do get it up here.
You're not the first to be confused by it. Actually I started doing this when the PM system went down. I used to answer comments by PM but when it was offline for a couple months I think it was, I had to be creative, so I borrowed the concept from a couple of the admins on site here and it sort of stuck.
I didn't know that was a song title, I just know it's French for "That's life" or something to that effect. Seems to be just about the only attitude I can take to keep my sanity anymore.
Yes that's essentially the problem. Those suggestions are good ones, but I don't have the money to throw away on educating myself right now. Also, my local paper is laughable at best. Their editing department must be run by two year olds, because very basic gramattical and spelling errors litter the paper every day. Aside from that, I'm absolutely opposed to doing anything that would benefit the local area I'm in right now. The people here have all been boorishly rude, pretentious [Censored]s to me since I moved here, I will not let them bank on my successes large or small, they do not deserve that honor.
This isn't about me getting famous, in fact I'd rather I didn't have to be out in the public eye too much. This is about honoring a promise I made to myself when I was treated like garbage by Senator Rockefeller's Office Manager over the biased, discriminatory and worthless waste of taxpayer money that is WorkForce West Virginia. I'm not shooting for the best seller list, I just want to be able to do something on my own and be able to say I succeeded when West Virginia was only interested in helping me fail.
You get around when you can. I certainly haven't been all that great about being by often lately. Hopefully that will pick up soon. On the publisher, par for the course so it seems, that's just the way life is to me.
I expect some resistence, but in the digital age, I also expect a fair chance. In no way am I deluding myself with thoughts of hitting it big, I don't intend to be an "author" by profession anyway. I wrote my story as part of a promise to myself, a promise to overcome the obstacle that is West Virginia, and be able to do it without the help or support of the locals who've been not only unkind, but unhelpful when I needed it the most.
I know I have at least a small audience, and it does mean a lot to me that you'd give my book a read. Trouble is, I'm not sure when you'll get that chance right now.
I've noticed a lag in comment postings too. With the trouble I've been having with my ISP lately, I thought it was just me. Now I know it's the server here.
I suppose I just burnt myself out a bit and well, I'm on the path to recovery so I'll be around more if I can. I tend to do that once in a while, but it's normal for me.
The idea of "vanity" publishing isn't a new one, it's been out there for ages. Those are the "publishers" who want money up front. I don't care what the "publisher" says, if they want money from the author, they are vanity publishing, no two ways about it. It's disappointing that there aren't any mainstream publishers looking at unsolicited material, I would like the chance to submit my manuscript to some people, just to get the content based rejection letters because those would help me hone the novel. Some of them vanity publishers claim they're not vanity because they do evaluate the manuscripts before accepting them, and they have a rejection rate they provide too. Well, I'm not in the position to put out the money they'd want if my material was accepted by one of them.
Well, technically getting a book published isn't that hard (there's Lulu or Cafepress for that), finding publishers directly isn't that difficult either, it's getting that foot in the door that's the problem. I'm beginning to think going with Lulu and doing the whole thing myself is the right way to go, thing is, I still need to figure out where to get over $600 to do that.
Yeah, I used to believe that, I'm not so sure I do anymore.
I know you meant well, but the way that's worded, it's not exactly encouraging.
There's no way I'd get all that done in two days even if I marathoned the whole thing staying up and making myself do it. I'm lucky to get one pic a day done anymore.
If I keep running into snags going it alone, I'll approach from another angle, grants. Although, my history with finding grants is about as good as it is with finding publishers, jobs, and local interest in anime so I'm pretty much screwed no matter which way I go.
Pacing is important to getting good drawings. I tend to pace myself a little too liberally most of the time, so a little pressure will be good for me, but I won't overdo it.
I can't promise anything specifc on the art, I'm really terrible about making deadlines, but I will say that I've set one in my head and I hope I'll finish by.
I mentioned it a couple times way WAY back, you may have missed those posts. Anyway, I'll quote Napster (never thought I'd use their words to make a valid point about something) but the publishing industry is "a closed system" of sorts, they don't want to help out aspiring authors, or people like me who don't want to make a career out of writing, but do have that one book to get in print.
You know that, and I know that, but it seems to me that the industry doesn't really know that. If I have to tell the established industry to soak their heads in a bucket of soy ink, I'll do that and go it alone.
I have an extensive collection of oddball short stories, and I write shorts all the time, usually when I'm really feeling down about something and drawing doesn't help me. If I knew where to pitch those, I'd do that in a heartbeat(As soon as I post this, I'll be looking into that avenue more thoroughly). That said, writing isn't a career choice for me. I don't intend to be an author by trade, I just want to see in print this story that was fueled by my resolve and bitterness toward the uncaring officials who wouldn't lift a finger to correct the corrupt employment program that's supposed to help assist unemployed West Virginians.
Why wait? Carpe Diem, seize the day, do it now, don't hold back. Your mind may not be at it's most focused, but let me tell you, sometimes not focusing makes for soem interesting stories.
Yeah, I tend to say "Idle hands are the Devil's workshop" a lot. Being out of work has it's downsides, but I know I'm doing something with my time and that's the important thing.
If life throws another curve ball, I'm demanding a Time-Out till life starts pitching fair.
Nice to see you making the rounds, hope everything is all right with you and your family.
I'm going to keep looking, but not right now. My heart just can't take the disappoinment on such a sustained basis. The rest of that is out of my realm of experience, but I'll be furious if you give up after telling me not to. From my perspective it's either the green or the scene, how much money a person has, or who they know that gets their material looked at, but what do I know, I'm just a nobody outsider trying to get in.
I don't think all the luck in the world is going to help me this time, but thanks anyway.
Yeah, I've been meaning to get on here, but things kept distracting me. I think I'll start syndicating my blog entries on all my blog sites, just so everyone will know I'm all right everywhere I've been.
As near as I can tell, that was a personal choice she made, having something to do with the story not really being what she wanted it to be. I don't understand it, but I respect it. In August 2003 my cable had been out for about a month or two, I was really annoyed, and bored out of my mind. Following some tips I got on the Tech TV message boards, I started to draw, and while I was doing that first piece, I noticed something. I noticed that I completely lost all awareness of what was going on around me, my mind went completely blank, every inhibition, every concern, every doubt, all were completely gone. I had achieved in seconds what people meditate for years to try to do, clearing their minds. Art isn't a relaxor for me, it's not a hobby to me, it's a passion, plain and simple. I only call it a hobby of mine so I won't be quick to make a career out of it, I'm not disciplined or experienced enough to really sell my art. I understand what you're saying, but I can't relate to any of those references in terms of physical pain.
That's about all I'm doing really. I'm putting up the novel for now, and I'll keep it put up for a while. I'll try to get all those art pieces done that I was supposed to have done months ago, then I'll go another round of trying to get the novel published. I don't think this current industry set-up is what Gutenburg had in mind when he invented moveable type.
I'm not too worried about the restrictions, the content I write is pretty tame compared to a lot of stuff that's out now, so there's no worries on that. I don't mix my art and writing, my novel is pure text. I don't have the discipline to duplicate the same character over and over again as is needed for graphic novels, though I would like to try to do a story like that at least once. You know, TokyoPop takes submisions for stuff, they pay particular interest in manga type stories. Here are their manga submission guidelines if you want a look.
Drawing isn't the issue here, I'm happy with that and happy I haven't tried to make a career out of it. I'll draw as much as I can all the time.
Yeah that really big, round, blue, third rock I picked up in my travels is the heaviest one of the bunch. Jokes aside, I have gone over all the information available to me and right now it's looking like my original plan of self-publishing was the right way to go. Location of the publisher means little to me, and I don't really care if my book never hits mainstream circles, I just want to get it in print in marketable condition (That's not a content statement, that's the technicals like copyright registration, ISBN, possibly a UPC and even LOC information). I'm what the industry calls a casual writer, and it looks like there's not a lot of space in the "traditional" model for the casual writer (All the help tips and that I find online are geared toward career writers). The hardest thing about self-publishing is going to be coming up with the money for everything on my own. As far as submitting my manuscript, I haven't found a single publisher where I can submit it.
If you could get publisher info for me, I'd really appreciate it. I'll want to give them a look for myself, to see if they'd be a good fit for me.
Yeah, it's a lot of stuff to do, but Slowly I'm getting it done. I just don't have the focus to sit down and do them from start to finish like I want to. That bothers me, but it can't be helped right now. Yeah, this is something I have to do on my own. Eventually I'll get them done.
That's exactly what I said the other day when I finally hit my last brick wall with the traditional publishing method. More publishers should be open to raw, unagented "talent". There isn't even an easy way to "foot in the door" this thing like others suggested I try.
Well, that list started in January and it's gotten bigger before getting smaller. I'm going on half a year already.
Given that I can't find a publisher yet, that's not likely to happen. I would be pleasantly surprised to get this novel published myself and actually have a traditional publisher approach me for subsequent projects. That's not likely to happen either, but a dragon can dream right?
I miss being around here more often myself, and the friends I have here, it seems I can't quite get the swing of things back just yet.
Yeah, it's a lot of stuff to do, but I'll get it done. I just need to apply myself to it, that all.
I'm absolutely not interested in "local" publishers at all, and will not look for one. I've mentioned it before, but the ignorant, rude, and self-absorbed baboons who inhabit my area of WV do not deserve to bank anything on my projects, and I won't let them. They have a tendancy to want to leach off the success of locals, and after treating me like garbage since the day I moved here, why should I let them benefit from my project?
I don't understand that whole thing either, which is why my head hurts every time I try new angles to possibly find something I might have previously missed.
It seems like there's just no way for a guy like me to get ahead. I've just come off a major search night looking for publishers, and the results aren't looking good for my novel right now. None of the mainstream publishers are taking "unsolicited" proposals or manuscripts, and all the other publishers that seem to be promising are one form of vanity publishing or another, which won't work for me since they all want money up front to publish. Literary Agents, with whom contacting a major publisher would be possible, won't promote an unpublished author either. Those are the three main avenues that were open to me, all of them are closed until I can figure something out. That means the novel I have written, completely finished and ready for publishing, will just be another file on the hard drive for the forseeable future. My one question is simply this: How does an industry founded on exclusion of the little guy stay ahead of the game at all? Maybe I should stick to drawing pictures.
I updated my list of art projects, it's not any shorter if you notice, it's actually longer this time. Seems I just can't get away from adding more work to my load. I'm going to have to put a stop to that. I can't keep up with myself and that's bothering me cause I don't like to be overwhelemed with work for a passion hobby of mine.
Username Inspired Image
Lizardman Soda Jerk
Art Piece for Nephew
Art Piece for Other Nephew
Art Piece for Niece
"Surprise" Art Piece for dA
Chinese Ink Art Piece for Sister's Friend (I'm still learning how to do this artform)
"Surprise" Art Piece for TheO (Not telling :-ţ)
Requested piece for friend
Requested piece for another friend
Long story short, it's going to be one heck of a weekend.
Is there a difference between being down and creative bends to a passionate artist? I don't think there really is because how we create reflects upon our personalities and our moods. An artist who's trying too hard and just not motivated to do the work really feels that lag. and if that's not enough, this novel thing is eating at me a lot too. To get this far and run into a brick wall is very discouraging, and it hurts, so my writing will probably suffer for a while becuase of that, and maybe my art will pick up again, I don't really know.
To be honest, I'm not completely in on the joke myself, but it's funny none the less. The concept is really putting characters into unlike scenarios, like I did with Yahiko and the Boy Scout uniform. It's kind of an absurdity visualized.
Please do, I've put the link up in my intro area so it's not hard to find.
Just been feeling the pangs of laziness really. It sure is a lot of art, and I hope to get it all done in reasonable time. I just have to make myself sit down and do it.
Oh that's the bare minimum, of if you do it yourself all the way, and that doesn't count stuff like marketing/promoting the book (advertising, sending copies to reviewers etc). The worst case scenario I came across yesterday was a frightful $4000 (Tate Publishing for the record - since they go out of their way not to have that info posted on their site). If I had that, I'd already be published. Traditional publishers don't charge the author anything, the trouble is, as I stated in my content up there, they don't take works from the average Joe on the street, they only take works brought to them by literary agents, literary agents don't promote manuscripts from authors who aren't published yet either, they like to wait till someone has at least one credit under their belts. In publishing there two main ways to go, the traditional way, then there's vanity publishing (the ones that cost the author money). Vanity Publishing is broken down into Subsidy Publishing, Self Publishing, and Publish On Demand (POD).
Well, the art is coming along, that's about all I can offer on that.
It's hard to tell the difference between a caffeine headache and a migrane, in any case I don't do headaches very well, they really mess up my perception.
That's good. It's always a great feeling to do something and feel it was well worth the time and effort.
Yeah I've been busy, but getting nowhere as usual.
That's the tip of the iceburg it seems. And, well, it's not really going to be much of a seller at all for now. I just don't have the heart to keep plodding away at trying to find that magic publisher who'll put it out there without me having to pay for anything up front. If I ever do get it published, I'll be happy to sign copies for my friend here on MyO.
If I wanted to, what's the most delicate way to put it, half-a** the whole thing, that would be an option that would get me laughed out of any legit bookstore. The problem is not with presentation of the manuscript, the problem is with getting the book produced for the market in market friendly terms (having the ISBN, proper Copyright, Library of Congress catalog info, etc). It's not all that easy to do that as a single person.
I can imagine the drive is tough, that's all I can do since my amaxophobia keeps me from driving.
Hopefully you'll find out what's wrong too.
I'll probably end up buying from there myself since I'm in the pergatory of cutural void that is WV. People look at me weird when I brew sun tea here on summer days.
Yeah, I'm falling behind in keeping up with people, it drives me nuts to not be able to do it, but it's tiring at the same time. As for the novel, I pretty much covered all that.
Yeah it is, but I've seen worse numbers. Thanks but that's not looking like it's going to happen any time soon, it's a lot but I want to get it all done.
The ones I can put up here, I will, the ones that I can't will probably be up on my dA account since they take more kinds of art over there.
The foundation for the site is up (link in sidebar), but it's still massivley under construction so it's a long way off from being done.
Sure is a lot, to someone who doesn't have a dime to begin with, pretty much any amount is a lot. It's a back-burner project for now though, I've exhauseted myself trying tofind that publisher that's not a scam or vanity outfit, but got nowhere. Maybe in a couple years if I hit a windfall of sorts I'll be able to try again.
I'm not ignoring the rest of you comment, I just don't have anything to respond with.
Let's see if I even remember how to make a post here at all.
It's been way too long since my last update, so I'm sure many of you were wondering if I'm still around. Yes I am, I've just been so bogged down in myself that well I've neglected my home here, and boy is it a mess. I do have to report that ages ago I slipped a picture into my portfolio here without too much fanfare, and not a lot of attention it seems. That one was fun to do for me, and if I wasn't so bogged down in art right now, I'd ask for another challenge of that nature, but it'll have to wait for a while. My current list of personally overdue art projects reads something like this:
Username Inspired Image
Lizardman Soda Jerk
Art Piece for Nephew
Art Piece for Other Nephew
Art Piece for Niece
"Surprise" Art Piece for dA
Chinese Ink Art Piece for Sister's Friend (I'm still learning how to do this artform)
"Surprise" Art Piece for TheO (Not telling :-ţ)
I didn't realize I had so many art pieces to do. It looks like a lot, but I know that if I take and do them one at a time, I'll have them all done in no time.
Aside from the art pieces, I am in the process of putting together a sort of a web site for myself. It won't be much, but when it's done, I'll be able to say I made that pretty much myself. I need to check on a few affiliates first, then I'll probably start to get the fundamental bits online soon. I'm also finishing up my novel which I'll probably end up trying to convince a regular publisher to print, since I won't be able to put the money into doing it POD the way I was wanting to. I'd have to register the copyright myself $45, get the ISBN $269.95 (for 10 - makes sense if I'm going to put out hardcover and paperback releases, and for any future projects I am writing/may write) Get an Adobe PDF distiller $299 to guarantee the final product will be formatted correctly, so in all, I'd need over $600 to publish a book myself. That's not going to happen, so I'll be researching publishers and how to properly solicit a manuscript, though I probably will take the time, and put the money together to register the copyright myself, to keep the publishers I do contact honest. I'm also in the process of putting together some photo prints for POD sales, but I'll put those links up on my web site when I get it up and running, and get that stuff online.
Yeah, I can still remember how much it hurt too. Honestly, I'm surprised it didn't break my ribs or something worse than just knocking my wind out.
It is kind of hard to see in that picture, that's actually not the best angle to see it. The most alarming detail with that scar is that it's on the blood vessel to my thumb. I didn't realize till just recently how lucky I was after that one.
Thanks, I'll need the luck, and I wish you the best with your endeavors as well.
Really? I didn't notice. I'll have to remember to spell check my posts before I put them up, I'm getting bad about that lately.
I tried to pull some of the more wild bits of my life out of the dust to share, though I'm sure I could have put a few theatre bits up there too. Yeah, the TV was painful, and It took me like three minutes to get my breath back completely. Maybe that's why I'm messed up in the head now.
That's what I do, I just do nothing so to speak, and well, that's only making it harder for me to concentrate and get things done, so I need to make myself sit down and do stuff regularly, just to be able to feel right about taking the time to do stuff that's frivilous once in a while.
I haven't visted some people in weeks, I don't like to drop off the map like that, but I did this time. Hopefully I'll be able to get this once a week thing down right.
I almost completely forgot about putting up a thumbnail look at the whole calander. Here is a complete look at what images are in it, I didn't label what picture is on which month, but you get the idea what all is on it.
It's been a while since I've updated this time, I've been around a lot less than I want to be lately, I just can't get motivated to be on like I used to be.
The calander project is "finished" so to speak, the nice thing about POD is that there's no inventory to pay for up front, so it'll be good till next year comes (it's a 2008 calander). If it doesn't sell well after I kick in a little bit of advertising strategy for it (this isn't the best place for that, I know), I'll take it off the market and try something else. As for income, anything that's legal I'm game to try, but right now something that's work-at-home would suit me till I established something steady enough to be able to try to find a "real" job. the pictures are still a wys off, I'm just not in the drawing frame of mind right now which is odd for me. They'll be done soon.
Even in fun there must be some formality. I like to keep a clean looking site, so the unordered list was a natural choice to arrange the items. Not as personal? Hm, I guess I did kind of skirt the juicy stuff a little bit. I suppose a more personal list of facts would look something like this:
I can't swim because I'm terrified of the water.
In my whole life so far, I've only driven a car once.
One time, I chased my brother and his girlfriend out of the house with a baseball bat.
I can't watch horror movies, they still scare me.
I'm a timid person in real life, I'm not very outgoing.
My high school never gave me my diploma, even though I have all my credits.
And there's other things I could have mentioned too, but with only six spots, there's only so much I can cover. Since I did that twice now, I'll not be playing the game again for a long time to come, I don't need to.
Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you've had a pretty rough time of things.
Thankfully my health is good, but unfortunately, I'm in an area where ability to learn isn't worth a [Censored] but who you know or are related to will get you places is worth everything. I keep looking cause I need the income.
You should be able to get it here if nowhere else. I know I want to try to get some so I can try it out.
I hope someone calls them on it, it would be nice to see them use an authentic blade. I've had the fortune of seeing an authentic, hand forged katana just recently (My sister's friend helped me order a sword online, we had to send it back it wasn't what we ordered), and there's a remarkable difference in the physical look of the blade when it's been hand forged. I'm surprised with the connections they both have in the movie industry, they didn't seem to know that the Samurai vs. Ninja thing is more Hollywood than real.
To find a simple barber, that's actually good at cutting hair isn't all that easy here in WV.
I saw the survey about the lisensors, I didn't take it. The question isn't really right the way it's worded so I'll have no part in it. Just because a person has a lot of one lisensor in their collection doesn't really say much other than the lisensor's prices are better, or they're the ones with the "Pop Animé" series that people are snatching up (it has nothing to do with quality). Most of my collection is from Bandai actually, only because those are the discs I find, or my sister finds, in bargain bins everywhere. I have yet to see much (if any at all)Funimation, ADV, Geneon, VIZ, or any of the other companies discs in bargain bins. now, I still see DBZ VHS tapes in dollar stores, which is kind of odd. If I could afford more Geneon (they brought Last Exile, one of my all time favorite animés to the US after all, and I believe they're the ones who redubbed Akira), I'd be buying it for sure.
I've been so out of sorts with myself lately, I haven't even worked on the article. I knew there was something holding me back from updating here, I wanted to have it up this time. Oh well, it'll have to wait some more.
Yeah, he got me. Honestly, I was wondering when I'd get tagged myself too.
It went down like this. We put a flea collar on on the cat, and she didn't like it, she tried to get it off and managed to get it caught in her jaw (her mouth was locked open by the flea collar). One of us (my older brother or I) had to hold the cat down while our dad cut the collar off her. My idiot brother wouldn't do it, so I had to. She didn't like being held down as much as she hated the flea collar trapping her jaw open, so when I went to grab her, she let me have it, but I didn't let her go, I held her till the collar was off, then I freaked out cause I was in pain and bleeding. I don't think I was even 12 at the time. That's a lesson to all cat owners. MAKE SURE THE COLLAR IS TIGHT ENOUGH TO NOT SLIP OVER YOUR CATS' HEADS!!! The batteries just got in the way, I had to change them in the camera before I could take the picture (my camera eats batteries).
I'm not mentally blocked, I'm just unmotivated right now. I will try to get around to sites more than I have been though.
I just went on Lulu and they pretty much walk you through the whole process. All you need is 12 photos (one you'll use twice, forthe cover, and for one of the months), preferrably high resolution, and the site does the work part of putting it together for you. You sell it from their site since it's POD. If you want to make one for yourself and not sell it, I'd recommend picking up Hallmark Card Studio, it's got calader templates in it that are easy to work with.
There's a Pennsylvania Dutch saying "the hurrier I go the behinder I get" which I like, and it applies to me a whole lot. I get to going so fast that I end up getting behind in things. I'm easily distracted too, which doesn't help any.
Yeah, I'm really lucky now that I think about it, I guess I really do have a strong spirit, I just don't see it sometimes.
Nothing Witty to Say 
