Haven't had the time to post anything this weekend, though I had it all lined up on my draft for my post tomorrow after class. It's Midterms week so, yea. Had to prepare for that.

Had a very good art session tonight. Though I don't know when I can attend the next one since we're almost halfway into this quarter.

Here's one of the samples that we did last night:

This was the last 40 minutes or so, it was a full house yesterday so the room was pretty warm. One of the main problems that I have now is I need to lessen the extra strokes that I do in order to define the solid lines.

I'll post the rest this week. Got dental appointment this morning. Yay.

I need to stop procrastinating when it comes to my assignments, geez.

Anyways, made some sketches last Friday using discarded wine boxes.

I'm practicing drawing with my shoulder using an 8" x 12" size surface (or at least that's what I think about these cardboards).

Tried to recreate that model from last week with one of his poses. I need to learn the placement of his abdominal muscles better. And yes, work on the anatomy size of the legs, that's one of my weaknesses too.

Drew a close-up feature of a face using just the shoulder... pain in the butt but I'm getting the hang of it, hehe.

 Shadow study of a face, with one single light source coming from the right side of his face. Need to study the facial surfaces even more.

 

And the last one, I was just trying to see if I can do an illustration using black shades as highlights and see if I can convey some sense of feeling in this particular drawing. 

Heck, I even  made a backstory that came out of my ass: I pretty much named kingdoms and units with the first thing that came to my head, er, ass.

  

 "King Valygar, who used to be known as "the Gentle King", was betrayed by his allies 10 years ago. Left for dead in the desert of Amun in the Outer Territories, he was rescued by a band of nomads and nursed back to health.

In ten years, he was able to unite the scattered war tribes and small fiefdoms in the Outer Territories and transform it into one of the most powerful kingdoms rivalling the Church-backed Holy Atlandia Empire, the war-like Terminus Dominion, the merchant-led Delitas Federation and even his former kingdom--now renamed as the Perseus Alliance.

The Outer Territories, now called the Ares Protectorate has met it's first obstacle: facing off with the 80,000-strong army of the Delitas Federation. Leading the Federation army is his former friend, Marshall Longinus and his personal (and deadly) battalion of Elysian Longbowmen.

His army, the 17,000- strong Outland Legion are composed of the elite the Protectorate can offer: the Hastati Knights, the Triarii Skirmishers and the Principes Longbow Archers to name a few."

Yea, I know. It's a mixed lot of historical units, myths and video game characters. Come to think of it, I do like that backstory. I'm thinking of adding at least one or two "Valygar Chronicles" whenever I sketch just to keep my enthusiasm up.

Maybe it will rub off on my homework habits too.

Hmm, seems like my blog site has been targeted for Malware links.

If you see this link ww4(dot)savegco.antivir(dot)com, DO NOT CLICK on this fucking link.

14 pageviews per day? Shee-it. Even I know that is bullshit haha... this blog is not that known yet since I barely started last week.

This week so far has been hectic both work and school-wise... Game Dev't design is still ongoing but felt like we haven't laid out what we wanted in this game. This Monday has been, should I say, quite a disaster as far as getting the ideas fleshed out.

Instead, what happened was all four of us were pretty much having a pissing contest on who's got the best idea. I realized what was happening but the frustration got the best of me. Next Monday will be different, I'll be more focused this time around.

Sociology was ok, need to finish a a report and an outline for the major topic. He showed us old "wholesome" US family shows back in the 50s and I must say it's like I stepped into the Stepford World pretty much... ugh, I had that sickening feel in my stomach.

Mathematics, well, I don't wanna talk about it. It just makes me mad, lol.

Here's my favorite spot for Sociology class. I make it a point to get here at least 15 minutes before class starts. And the reason why I sit here is because of....

Yea, there's an outlet for my PC, lol.

The view from my chair, that's my instructor btw.

So yea, "normal" stuff this Monday, nothing really exciting to tell. Right.

Got slammed at work Tuesday: lots of wine drinkers for this particular convention. Good for restaurants at our hotel so, yea.

Wednesday class was fun. Got to draw some dude whose body features is a source of good study... it's nice how the shadows falls on his body not to mention its pretty much defined--- he looks skinny but got those powerful wiry muscles. He's not bulked up like a body builder but the arms got power.

Turns out, he works at a 'Cirque show here in town. Now it makes sense.

Here's a sample of what we drew:

8-minute pose. Will add the rest later this week.

I'm getting the hang of this life drawing gig. I should just stay at home this week and do some major studies on anatomy or something. I'm broke anyways. :D

Well, yesterday was a very productive day: finalized my group project in Theoretical Game Design (at least in pitching the idea to the publisher), bought the frame for my wine poster at Michael's, dropped of an old modem at my local cable company... and then went to shop at Office Max, Barnes and Noble and Wine Plus on a whim.

Met with my classmate Anna in the afternoon. Our current assignment was to create a game that a developer would want to publish (like, selling our souls to EA or Blizzard/Activision or something). My group liked the idea that I had in mind: it's a psychological suspense/thriller ala Silent Hill and Heavy Rain combined. Now, I won't get into specifics for now but this is an ongoing project and my instructor will be having us proceed with other aspects of video game designing/publishing in the next two months. We had to pick two countries that we think will receive this game and make a good profit out of it. We chose the US and Japan (pretty much the most logical choices as far as regions to market this game).

The Japanese CERO (US equivalent of ESRB) has a more lenient rating system so Horror/Psychological-based games may get an "M" (Mature - 17 years old and over) here in the US but may only get a "B" (15+) or "C" (17+) in Japan (well, that's just a rough outline since it gets tricky when you add other elements into the game).

And a couple of hours later, we decided that we had enough research to back it up so we filed it and went on our separate ways and proceed with our other plans.

Dropped off the Modem at the Cox Cable building since they were charging my Mom $500 for the DVR Cable and Modem if she doesn't return it (I took over her account pretty much when we moved into our new place last January). My brother returned the DVR but forgot to bring the Modem so I finished the whole thing up.

Stopped by at Michael's to buy a frame for my 36"x12 " Alphonse Mucha poster of Moet Chandon in which I will hang it in our wine room this week.

I got what I wanted, and since this is my first time in this place I decided to check their Art Supplies area.

They have a good selection as far as pencils/canvas/papers go but not as diverse as Blick's (for obvious reasons)... hmm, speaking of Blick's, I do need to buy those mannequin thingies that you use for references. 

Bought a new candle warmer for my room (it was on sale with three big-ass scented candles included).

I stepped out, went to my car and dropped off the stuff. I turned and looked around the shopping complex deciding where to go and saw that there's an Office Depot store not too far from Michael's. Since I needed to buy an arm lamp, I decided to get one as well. 

Since I was there, I looked around for a comfy looking chair for my next month's purchase and they have quite a good selection here. Seems like the real good ones (the ones where you can sit comfortably for 8 hours) starts at $220+. My friend Sean said that I should "skimp on the tables but DO NOT skimp on the chair"... so I made a mental note on which one I will purchase next month.

Bought the lamp for $15... pretty sturdy thing but we'll see. When I was on the counter paying for this, I saw someone walked by with a Barnes and Noble plastic bag and I thought "there's a Barnes and Noble bookstore around here?".  I guess I spoke it loudly than I intended since the counter chick said that it's a short walk from their store. 

Made a beeline to that store and when I stepped in, I felt like that I was a kid in a candy store again.

I LOVE the Bargain Shelf. So many nice books to choose from n_n

Got two books to add on my collection (mostly military-related, science and art books)... I will take a picture of that once I assemble my new book shelf.

Since I was on a roll that day, I decided to drive around the shopping complex (it's my first time in this area) to see what they have.

Lo and behold:

Hellz yea!

Grabbed three different kinds of beer (Shock Top, Don de Dieu and Chimay) and a bottle of Italian Amarone.

Was pretty much pooped at the end of the day, but was happy with my purchases. Oh yea, pain in the ass driving while raining on my way home and you have these maniacs driving around like crazy... no wonder insurance here in Vegas is higher. Good grief.

Don't feel like doing anything... was thinking of doing some quick sketches and whatnot but stuff during today's work pretty much drained any motivation that I had.

I'm just going to sleep since I have to run errands around Henderson this Saturday morning.

It has been a very productive day (art-wise)

I asked for a day off so I can attend the late night art session as well.


We had a new model posing for us and her poses are quite challenging... at least for me who is pretty new in this life drawing gig.

This week, we just did more gesture drawings in 1-, 2-, and -5 minute settings.

Two-minute drawings

 

5-minute drawings

I should've posted one-minute drawings too. Oh well.

Looking at my sketches, I still have waaaaaaaays to go.


After the class ended at 4:40pm, went out to eat real quick and come back to get my favorite spot and just chilled for a bit.

And then we started off with a new model as well for this one. There were 13 students and 2 industry professional and recent graduates in attendance. We started at 6PM for the second session or "sesh" as my instructor puts it.

2-minute poses

5-minute poses

was experimenting with shading with this one

And then the model changed to a more frilly outfit wearing a nightie.

One-minute poses

Eight-minute poses

 By this time my right shoulder were pretty much tired that I had to use my elbow/wrists just to finish the last couple 10-minute poses.

Man, that lying down pose with frilly clothing kicked my ass pretty bad. Need more practice than ever.

Checking other people's portfolio drawings. My instructor/school's art director (standing) giving out a few pointers.

Now, if this was an RPG game, I think I gained a few levels (or at least, new skillsets or something). It was a good art session, but that got me tired as heck... but it's a "good" tired I suppose :D

Now, I have to tackle my other class assignments tomorrow morning: (Sociology report, Game Development publisher proposals and that dang Math homework).

Here's the current set up for my mini studio for now--- just need to have something to sit down and draw on. I will have to change the layout when I assemble my new PC desk which is twice as long as the table that you see here. 

I was advised that it's better to have somewhat of an L-shaped design so I  can just rotate my chair with ease. I think I'll go with that set-up. Still need to buy a new PC chair (the old one is giving me back problems) and a desk lamp with that arm thingy.

I think I'll assemble the PC desk this Sunday or Saturday night--- I already have a busy schedule this coming Saturday morning and afternoon: gotta go to Michael's and have my Mucha's "Moet Chandon" poster framed then go to my local Cable company to turn in the old Modem/Cable Box. Then, probably have to meet my classmate to discuss our current group project.

And my car looks so nice when it's cleaned :D 

It's an old car (Toyota Corolla 2000 +140k mileage) but runs pretty well.

I thought I might as well post something since it's my second week of the quarter.

My Sociology teacher is pretty cool, makes a lot of *actually* funny jokes in-between but will draw the line when he needs to. Good thing too since some of the students in this class can be quite noisy at times. Keeps those youngins toe the line.

My Pre Algebra class is so-so... Math is my Achilles' Heel pretty much. I need more time to study in this class. This is probably the only subject that I have to devote a lot of time on, it's just time consuming solving the problems and whatnot but I'm getting there, though at a slow pace.

Game Design and Development is a swell class, there's only 8 of us (with 4 other students still absent for some odd reason). And the teacher was my Flash instructor last quarter so he knows me pretty well. I guess it's a good way to slow down the night with only a handful of us in this class so it sets me in a good mood on the way home afterwards.



Going to sleep in a few, then wake up early tomorrow to finish some figure drawing for my upcoming class this Wednesday... and I will be able to stay the whole day this Wednesday for 10 hours of non-stop figure drawing session... I'm excited!

Yesterday I noticed my Mom looking glum... turns out, she's been wanting to eat at that ramen place again in Spring Mountain (Vegas version of Chinatown). Funny, I was just thinking of the same thing.

So off to Monta we go!

The place is what I would expect from a noodle house back in Japan... it's pretty small and have that relaxed atmosphere to it. This is the only "authentic" noodle house here in Vegas for now. This place is packed on the weekends.

Ordered Tonkotsu Ramen and Mom ordered the Shoyu Ramen. Then added the Pork Belly rice bowl and Gyoza and an Oolong Iced Tea as well. Couldn't finish the rice bowl and the Gyoza (eye is bigger than the stomach lol) so we asked for a take-out box.

http://www.montaramen.com

After we stepped out of the ramen place, I decided to take her to the nearby Foot Spa parlor since she never had one before.

http://www.footmassagevegas.com


Well, it was a relaxing Saturday night. Then spent the rest of the night at home catching up on Doomsday Preppers on Nat Geo... interesting show methinks.


 
Two weeks ago, my friggin' door handle on my car snapped--- the one on the driver's side. Ordered the part from Amazon and one week later I received the item. Had to spend the whole week opening my door from the outside... that was interesting.

This afternoon (woke up around 10am but spent the whole hour just fucking around), I took a Philip's and Flathead screwdriver and proceeded to fix the dang thing.


Half of the handle is missing. There was a crack where it snapped off anyways and the previous owner did inform me about it.

And yes, cigarette burn marks. Not mine, it was the previous owner. But the car doesn't smell anything like cigarettes which I was thankful.

Here's the replacement part

Unscrewing it using the Philip's screwdriver and used the Flathead to unsnap that little latch at the back.

And snapped on the replacement part.

I didn't have the last pic since I was hungry so I proceeded to head to the car wash and give my car some TLC... well, had it washed. Went to eat while waiting for it to finish.

Later, I will have to clean my room/bathroom then finish the rest of my assignments.

Trying to use the hosting image thingy

Huh, I guess it worked.

(was mucking around with my school's Cintiq... 21UX... need to get one of these babies)

Hmm, I guess this is the main page huh?

Well anyways, welcome to my Blogspot uh, spot. Here, I'm going to (try) to log in my everyday stuff (mostly art-related of course).

Actually, I've been wanting to create one for a while now but I guess I just didn't have enough motivation to do so. But now that I'm back in school (studying Game Arts Design at the Art Institute of Las Vegas), it gives me enough "oomph" to do stuff so yea.

My goal is to update this site at least twice a week so we'll see how it goes.