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Day´s strange question? How to make own fantasy story after reading the storytelling handbooks?

deafjanne — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:31:00 GMT

When I was painting Davurnus as first time, [ - picture:

http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/deafjannes_portfolio/picture246140.aspx ]

I got one thing to think. Reading. Analyzise. Research. Think. Making the new idea. It is not easy? What strange thing, but I bought one handbook of storytelling (wroten by Finn, Finnish book). English books would be:

http://www.allbookstores.com/Social_Science/Folklore_and_Mythology/Storytelling-Collections.html

Reader and writer. Different way. Choosing. Idea from books, films or minds. Then changing the stories as very better story? When gets luckly day? And successing image. It was another theme I was thinking just - when I noticed that I can not paint without new ideas about moving, enviroment, clothes. Then writing texts, making own story, but how can it pass with own painting? It is my day´s strange question when I did put another Davurnus-image just, but how can reader understand their picture if I would not put the texts/stories (I painted new after reading the Finnish storytelling handbook):

http://community.imaginefx.com/fxpose/deafjannes_portfolio/picture253709.aspx

Enjoy readers that stories and paintings? Who knows.. But I am interested in the handbook about fantasy / good storytelling if they helps to make better painting. Wikipedia said that storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images, and sounds often by improvisation or embellishment - I did not know about them before! And would all storytelling handbooks same points? Maybe.

confused.com

byron1dunn — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:00:00 GMT

hi guys and girls my first blog and am confused.com comp. on page 28 issue 50 anyone with the correct details for this comp would be much needed by yours truly thank you byron dunn

A depressing, self indulgent whinge (Read at your own risk)

JimboJimboJimbo — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:42:00 GMT

To be honest I'm not really sure what my motivation is for this blog entry, I guess it's the hope that by expressing my current thoughts and feelings I can somehow regain my focus and enthusiasm.

Lately I've had very little of either. I've had no inclination to tackle anything creative and feel like I fallen into a very deep and rather depressing rut. I know part of this is due to my ongoing state of joblessness and repeated knock backs. When I left my last place of employment in March I certainly didn't think I'd still be looking for another full time gig in October even with the global finanical crisis. I guess this has caused me to question my creative talent and if I truely possess it or if I just convenced myself I was a creative. Right now I feel incredibly like a pretentious poser and loser. My conviction has ebbed away - so was it really that strong to begin with? My focus has evaporated and has been replaced by the attention span of a... well something with a really micro sized attention span. My goals have lost their shining radiance and while I still drink in and admire the work of so many other talented artists I'm starting to think I'm just not meant to be in the same realm. Perhaps all I need is kick up the ... or slap upside the head, who really knows.

What a depressing self indulgent read this entry makes. Maybe I should stop listening to so much Morrissey.

Social Issues

EqualToYou — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:01:00 GMT

I’ve been watching and going about life as an average American does. There are a lot of things that have become a real bother for me. What we are doing with our knowledge and how we are concentrating on putting it to use for warfare and self serving wants and desires; what we are doing with the internet, how the World Wide Web is effecting us; interactions between people, mainly men and women. All of these topics link down the line.

The most important thing to the human being like for any creature is its needs and wants. We are always trying to improve. We are always looking for answers for our endless void of questions. We want to be gods that which know everything and see everything even beyond our universe and then beyond that. So we study, we learn we experiment, we analyze, we go through great extremes in our search for answers digging great holes into the Earth and flying as far away from it as we can. But it seems that while NASA and all the “olygists” out there are learning what they can, certain scientists are looking to make better enhancements or stimulants for sexual or thrilling purposes. We can make robots that can do just about anything and still be safe and stick to the ever so popular “laws of robotics”. Now that we have this technology we’re looking into making “human like robots” for doing chores about the house and sexual purposes. You can learn more about these inventions, designs and technology at [link] or learn more from the new series Naked Science on the National Geographic channel. I really don’t need to go into politics do I? The last thing I heard was that our military was doing a new practice: using your minds power to kill a goat. This caught the attention of comedian Mr. Colbert for the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. The horror about this is that it was not a joke. So what are these people planning on using for weapons or strategies during battle and war? It frightens me.

When it comes to the internet, many people have become highly dependent on it. Many people have their lives established here. It can be where you work, where you socialize, and now there virtual dating! I wonder what happened to the good ‘ol’ days when a guy and a girl started out by meeting IN PERSON after either already knowing each other or bring introduced and you respected the other person, treated them like a friend, and this went on for awhile until you were certain that you were comfortable with that person and that person was comfortable with you? If you dare go into a chat room there is no telling what will be said. I signed up for this fun little site called QQgames powered by AIM.com which you download onto your computer. For every game room there is a chat room. I prefer the pool room for 8ball assigned to anyone and everyone. It is the most popular room in the site and many players participate in the chat room. The things they say here is extraordinary and often cruel but not so unusual. When you play a match of pool it is between just two players and in the table window there is a chat box so that the opponents can communicate. You are also able to send and receive PIM (private instant messages). People often take it for a dating site. There are also political debates here. I would never allow anyone under the age of eighteen join here just because of the disrespectful and inconsiderate remarks made here. It is dangerous because this is a good spider’s web to catch adventurous and innocent young people. If you upload your photo and that person decides that they like it, they now know what you look like; you may also have your location put in so they can find you. Predators may befriend this person and I see this happen often, the person will give this “redator” their email or phone number PUBLICLY because that’s how comfortable or secure they feel in the public. Unless you lied about everything such as your name, location, and even your photo you’re still at risk of being tracked if you give them you’re email. If you give away your phone number you’re basically screwed if they decide to search you. There are hackers, they are predators, and they will find you. I can’t emphasize this enough how dangerous it is. Don’t “hook up” online.

It is still sad, this fact that people such as MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter and other such site users insist on meeting people online that could live nearby or over sees instead of meeting in person whether they are just friends or closer. It makes things difficult. On the other hand it can be a good thing. It’s a really cool idea especially for travelers to know that they already have a friend in that country or that state. There are the occasional cases where really good relationships started out as a couple meeting online from a cite that’s strictly for this purpose or an innocent cite for the public where people do have a habit of getting to like each other. I myself have made a few friends on [link] . Its fine but personally from my perspective, the idea is to actually meet that person in person. So what does this say about are future? What we have been, what we are now, becomes we will be. If that’s true then what will it be next?

Art Freck 2: Revenge of Art Freck

phoenicorn — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:08:00 GMT

Tracy Emin

Well with the success of my last review (and the fact that I really should spend less time on youtube watching “hamster dance”) I have decided to do a second review. Yes when I last checked Art Freck received 60 views, granted 20 of them were by my mum, 15 by my grandmother 10 were made by me when I forgot my password (again) and 10 made by random people when I spammed their inbox on facebook, but my point still stands (whatever it was). So as promised here is the Tracy Emin review.

Today I am going to be reviewing 2 of her works. “My bed” and “Everyone I ever slept with 1963 – 1995” because I feel these are really deep pieces. (Not because I am a tool who only reviews popular art. Honest it’s not)

Let’s start off with “Everyone I ever slept with 1963 – 1995” aka “My Tent”. The whole piece seems like has the feel of a diary that has been conveniently left unguarded on the floor, I guess the right thing to do in that situation would be to raid the innards for suitable blackmail material and juicy gossip. When you eventually prize the lock open of the diary, er… scratch that. When you enter the tent you discover all the dirty secrets were non existent as the 102 names are people who she has literally slept with like the occasion where as a baby she fell asleep in her mother’s arms. I feel this is a shame as I am sure it contains her time in uni where I assume she must have shared a dorm with several of her female uni friends.

At first glance it appears that the tent is just a run of the mill tent that you would probably pick up at argos in some was £29.99 but now £19.99 offer, and you’d probably be right but that doesn’t mean it loses meaning. First off the colours, Blue tends to be a calming colour and yellow could be associated with gold which is associated with wealth, yada, yada, yada. What I am interested in the contradictions in her choices. For instance yellow (which is used for the walls inside the tent) is a symbol of hope in western cultures (like the rising of a new sun (my god did I just say something that corny) where as in Egypt it is a symbol of death (ah… that’s more like it). Yellow is a sign of danger and of cowardice. Blue is calming but also depressing which also contrasts with the joyous and exciting feel of yellow (much like the quiet nerd compared to his loud drunk comical counter-part who likes to dunk the nerds head in the toilet… God I miss college.) Black is used to divide the walls from the floor which could be used to add a void between Emin and everyone else or to represent that one side has a villainous aura about them; also black is used to make colours seem brighter. (Just check CS4 box art if you want proof)

The first name you see on the wall when you enter is that of her boyfriend of the time Billy Childish and his name seems brighter than everyone else. Tracy herself said that he was a huge influence on her, (much like wiki is to me) so it is only natural he would tack center stage. As well as names there are annotations about what each person done but unfortunately they are scattered around the tent so finding out who done what and to whom is very difficult and the fact that I have only seen a picture of the tent because the real thing now resembles my cooking, owing to both being burnt to cinders, there is no real way to spend hours on deciphering that mystery and mailing it to “the sun” newspaper (sun, fire, see what I did there) and making a fortune.

One of the things that were clear from the low resolution Jpeg image that I am using as a reference is the writing on the floor.
“WITH
MYSELF
ALWAYS MYSELF
NEVER
FORGETTING”

Obliviously this is meant to be her and if you are looking for a blindingly oblivious answer as to why she is on the floor you could say she is sleeping or she is the glue that keeps it all together and links everyone, but I would say that she is there to make it as awkward as possible to get out. If she is on the wall she may be tempted to talk to someone else on that same wall leaving anyone on the adjacent wall time to escape while Tracy is distracted, but being on the floor you would have to step over her and risk wakening her up and then having the awkward conversation on why you have to leave coz you dog is having kittens tomorrow and you promised your aunt you would video the occasion (phew don’t think she suspects a thing).

Next up is the unmade bed imaginatively titled “My Bed”

I would love to claim the moral high ground on this piece but my room is in pretty bad shape as it is. (I would have to have a clean up just to call it a tip) The Piece is an unmade bed *gasp* set within a mess of what appears to be random items. I can’t list all of the features of the bed as I am sure the moderators would have words with me, let’s just say the bed was well used and I am sure a lot of fun was had in it. Unlike the previously mentioned piece which was more innocent than the title suggested “my bed” was a lot more sinister when you discovered the origins. The piece was created when she was going through relationship difficulties. This is the result of a nervous breakdown which leads to suicidal depression. This makes reviewing this piece awkward for me as I usually like to place a bit of humor into my reviews. Damn you Emin.

An alternate version even contained a hangman’s noose but I feel that was too oblivious. I like the fact that the piece makes you feel awkward and having the ability to lull you into a false sense of security. All honesty before I researched this piece I thought it was a mere novelty piece and I suppose that’s its charm (much like those novelty peanut cans with springy snakes mixed in with the live ones). The piece is obliviously personal and the only way I could see it getting more personal is if the woman herself was to pose naked on her bed (god I have spent too long writing this article).

Next time purely because I could not get into his recent free gallery exhibition (I am not queuing for 3 hours) Banksy.

The preceding article had 25% more plagiarism (yeay for the internet)

Art Freck Reviews

phoenicorn — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:43:00 GMT

Well owing to a combination of boredom and some arm twisting from one of the forum members who shall remain anonymous (unless this is a total flop in which case I am passing the blame on to them) I decided to do something constructive with my time and being as my one 14day trial run of WOW ran out (after a mere 6 months) I decided to do a review of various art pieces. Rather than risk getting risk getting hung upside down over some burning coals by the moderators (again) I decided to review more traditional art pieces rather than anything on IFX.

I was originally going to review Jackson Pollack but decided I shall save that for a Special occasion so instead I decided to review the Mona Lisa by Leonardo De Caprio, err no that’s not right. *Checks wiki* Ah, De Vinci. I knew that, just testing you.

As any good review will tell you should start with a controversial statement (Just made that part up to sound like I know what I am doing, which I so totally do and am not making it up as I go!). Well I guess the controversial statement is that the piece is boring.

I suppose this is just me being fickle, I mean the flesh is painted beautifully and the detail in her garments is very nice, but it all just feels too safe. Realistically if you place this piece next to a man who has just been set alight people would flock around the burning man (either out of sheer terror spawned from the hapless victims screams of agony or out of sadistic curiosity in seeing if anyone else gets caught ablaze).

So let’s get down to the nitty gritty (and oh god doesn’t that sound girly). The picture itself is a portrait of a woman sitting with a smug look on her in front of some outdoor scenery. The woman has a smug look on her face as if to say I am better than you, and even goes so far as to avoid looking at you directly as if you are the only drunk at a high class party (oh and apparently pants were mandatory to that party). Composition seems to be based on triangles as her body fits into one right in the centre of the canvas, thus dividing the remainder of the picture into a triangle on either side of her. On a side note, how much of this ****in’ image does she want, attention seeking cow.

There is no doubt that Da Vinci was a master of his craft. Subtle things like a complimentary colour pallet (red tint of her face and hair vs green errr… everything else) are used very well as nothing feels overpowered in this piece. I suppose this is another reason why I find this piece boring as there is no conflict what so ever. (I know the point of this piece is simplicity but still he could have thrown in a set of BEWBZ, or a tiger, on fire, with lightning swords … with bewbz etched on them). This leads me to believe one of the reasons that this piece has become such an icon of art is because of it’s theft in 1911, along with the numerous parodies of the piece such as the pieces done in the Dadaist style. This leads me in a random fashion to my next area of scrutiny, her legs.

As you may have noticed the legs are not painted and this was done for an oblivious reason. You see Da Vinci was an inventor so obliviously the lower half of the painting was of mech legs. Ah yes, you can’t fool me Da Vinci, your conspiracy has been unravelled. Speaking of hidden issues in or around the picture did you know that Da Vinci had no close relationships with any woman which leads me to believe that he painted this so he could get some action with the model (like playing backgammon and if you thought I meant getting down and dirty please get your mind out of the gutter. Actually … … … Okay I am never going to that part of my mind again).

The picture has undoubtedly had an effect on most of the pieces here on IFX as a lot of artist seem to want to blend skin in a similar fashion to Da Vinci where there are no clear transitions of shades (Hard brush with hardness at 0% in Photoshop), so I guess we all owe a lot to this piece but I can’t help but feel if it was created today and placed on any internet art forum it would be quickly forgotten (right after it was stolen and placed on a motivator).

Next time I will slaughter … er I mean provide an unbiased review on the works of Tracy Emin.

All the good/ funny/ informative bits were written by Phoenicorn. Art work in question does not belong to me (obliviously).

My new hobby, but what should I have the fantasy sword movies?

deafjanne — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:04:00 GMT

I started my new DVD-hobby in last june. I am collecting the fantasy swords movies (special wuxia [the Chinese/Hong Kong fantasy sword movies], chambara [Japanese sword movie], haidong gumdo [South-Koreanese sword movies]..). Why am I interested in that movies? One can see the fantasy moves, strange and funny sword words (e.g. energy sword), interesting inviroment/places/forest/houses and great stories. What jumps! And strong visuals. And nice to read the English subtitles. Then learning the new fantasy cultures ;)

When I visited my old friend, he wanted show Swordsman to me, because he think it is so very cool movie. I enjoyed it when I saw how one guy (called Jo Lang Sim, chief of the Five Mountain Ranges) "shoot" by his flicking (without some gun) and it "worked" only in the movie - of course, as fantasy.

Here is my DVD-list now:

Zatoichi (Japanese)

Chinese Ghost Story 1 & 2 (dir. Tony Siu Ching)

Bride with white hair 1 & 2

Killer Clans (Chinese/Hong Kong)

Executioners (dir. Tony Siu Ching)

The Moon Warriors

Ashes of Time

Fong Sai Yuk (Chinese)

Swordsman 1 & 2 (dir. Tony Siu Ching)

Suriyothai (Thailand, edited by F. Coppola)

Hero

Flying Daggers

Come drink with me (Hong Kong/Chinese)

Seven swords (Chinese)

Sword in the moon (South-Koreanese)

Ran (Japanese)

Red Lion (Japanese)

Blind woman´s curse (Japanese)

Shinobi no mono (Japanese, first ninja movie!)

Had I forgotten some great sword movie? Hmm.. Let´s go back to the websites and checking the lists. I think I´ll buy more DVD:s in next week careless they are old.

Cheers, deaf Janne

Happy birthday DA

phoenicorn — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 06:57:00 GMT

DeviArt art is 9 today. Happy birthday to the 3rd greatest art forum (ConceptArt #2 and IFX #1 obliviously)

RIP Matrix online

phoenicorn — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:33:00 GMT

well I just found out that there was a matrix mmo and it was shut down on the 31st of July.

Don't really like MMORPGs but I figgured it was worth commenting on so yeah I didn't care befor and I still don't really care I barely even knew it existed.

RIP MXO

New Denizens at Opus Artz

koshime — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:52:00 GMT

NEW DENIZENS

Check out our new sources of inspiration and study

Slap Chop Remix Video

neeko — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:22:00 GMT

The guy Vince who does Sham Wow also did Slap Chop and a DJ remixed the info commercial into a dance record. The guys who do the infocommercial Slap Chop then took the dance remix and made it into a commercial. The actually paid to run a whopping 2 min commercial on TV.

Linky

did u know gollum won an award

phoenicorn — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 11:16:00 GMT

Gollum from lord of the rings won an award

click bellow to see his reaction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUNYCGZMtI8

OMG you have to read this

phoenicorn — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:26:00 GMT

http://darwinawards.com/legends/legends1998-16.html

it's quiet .... too quiet

phoenicorn — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:26:00 GMT

we need new blood here to keep us on our toes

om sai mangalam

girish — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:33:00 GMT

I, Girish Kumar Singh, residing in Kalkaji, New Delhi, India

I did Master in Fine Arts from Lalit Kala Sansthan (Agra University).And I have done Four Year Diploma in Fine Art & Craft from Delhi (Shilpe Bharati, affiliated by school of Rajasthan). During this period I have gained experience in modern PAINTING , ILLUSTRATION , DIGITAL PAINTING Under my Ideal teacher MR.B.Ravichandaran (lecturer in Dept. of Painting Lalit Kala Sansthan, Agra) and also working with MR. Priyanker sukhla (freelience Artist). I worked with them and I did Sale painting and Illustrations work Knowledge from them and I mate with big artist like Vijender Sharma, Sanjay Bhattacharyya and great graphic designer artist Shailesh pandey and I attend a seminar and dissertation working in Kala Kutir in Gaddi. Work in Wall painting in syata poll showroom at saket mall. My most experience Art & Craft teacher in (MNDP school L-1 /133 Nr.Asthal mandir, sangam vihar ND-62).Diamond Book Publication! I have made a many Cartoon & illustrations for children, s book or jocks books my lattés work Caricature for Raj gopal katju on book cover katju is a writer for a joke books.

Total Experience : 2 Years, 1 Month

Just had a call from my tutor. I passed

phoenicorn — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:22:00 GMT

I passed my foundation art course in spite of being ill and having to miss the last module. woot. after a years break I will progress to uni to do visual communication (illustration). Thanks IFX could not have done it without you

happy wednesday all

phoenicorn — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:09:00 GMT

Happy wednesday everybody.

You maybe wondering what is so special about today that is worth shouting out and making a post about. well.... absolutly nothing just thought this post may bring a smile to peoples faces.

this will not be a daliy thing so you better enjoy the wednesday happyness or else I will

[article cencored] with a rubber duck and a wooden spoon.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY ALL!

Feel free to post how you will or have spent your happy wednesday.

Drawing Lines

Jason Embury — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:43:00 GMT

It seems whenever you come to a point in life where you have to make decisions, whether they’re BIG decisions or little ones, you inevitably find yourself drawing some sort of lines. These aren’t lines on paper, but rather metaphorical lines that you’re drawing into those spaces in your life between the old and the new, or the stressful and relaxing. My own lines have been sort of zig zagging every which way for a few months now, in ways that required me to really focus and find a way to draw straight lines, but I think after a lot of struggling, I finally found a good ruler to use in the short term, and hopefully after a short period of time I’ll be able to set it down again and get back to some freehand drawing

The transition back into the working world is going moderately well so far. It’s a job that I know I can do, and I’m not running into anything that is really mind bending and causing me problems yet, so that’s a huge plus. It’s also nice to be able to put in my hours, and LEAVE when it’s done. Hoping I can get all the hours I want when football season rolls around soon, but that’s still kind of up in the air right now. I know I’ll be able to get game days and at least one practice day off, but hopefully I can get things worked around the other practice and stuff. we’ll see. It’s going good as I said, and it’s going to be nice to have steady money coming in again for a change.

I wanted to wait until after the weekend of the 4th to really get moving on stuff again, but I may have to man up and just start DOING things again before then. So much to get started on here. I’m going to really start moving on my creator owned project here, as well as some other things with DJ Coffman. Working on a cool pitch now with writer/creator Eric Hobbs. It’s a great little story, weaving elements from various sources like Neverland, Oz and others into a gigantic, all ages, adventure that looks to be something very special. Artist Derrick Fish is doing some absolutely amazing work on this so far. Some of you might know Derrick from his webcomic work on Dandy and Company. I’ve been reading that forever, and was excited to see his name and his work on this project and get a chance to work with him. We’re doing some really great work together, can’t wait to show some of it later.

As for my own project, I’m going to share some new stuff soon from that. However I’m NOT going to be sharing the name again any time soon. Needless to say, in the last week, I went to see if the domain name I wanted was available for it, and it was. This morning, it’s been registered and has some template thing installed on it and mysteriously has no contact information, no links, no content, but a header and a flaky looking “this belongs to me” tagline. Probably a coincidence, but in a day and age where people just scoop up domains for things left and right in hopes of selling them off, it just as well could be someone hoping that I’ll shell out money for a name I was going to build an IP around.

On the homefront, things are great. We’re getting a lot of little things around the house and yard done that we’ve been meaning to, and enjoying spending time just hanging out this summer so far. Not going to baseball/softball 5 nights a week and weekends is a HUGE bonus as well. Leaves you with a lot of free time in the evenings that’s for sure. Just in the last 3 days, I’ve put in a screen door in the garage that my wife has wanted for 3 years (evidently so I can now hear the speakers from the garage stereo better, which I guess is partly true) put landscape lighting around the water garden/pond by the patio with the wife, finished laying a natural stone wall on the backside of the burm by the pond, and trimmed all the grass in the front yard. that doesn’t even take into account the consumption of extra greasy and crispy onion rings, the graduation party with a live band, playing Lego Batman on the pS3 with my son, sleeping in late on Sunday, having friends over for a 4th of July PRE party, party on Saturday night etc….. so life is definitely good. The only thing I could complain about is that I’m still owed a lot of money from one comic publisher, but really…if that’s the worst thing going on in my life, I’m lucky. I’m sure that situation will be resolved one way or another, hopefully in the next several weeks or in the next month. It needs to be resolved so I can get on with my life. Something I’m making an effort at doing. And while things are hectic, it’s a good hectic now, and I’m enjoying it.

So I’m going to get working on some things that I feel good about now, and hopefully….set that ruler aside and find time to start drawing some of my own lines.

Unboxing my Intuos 4 (Large)

donlowcm — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 04:08:00 GMT

I have been craving for one of this for a long time even though I already have 2 other Intuos, a 12X12 Intuos 2 (Blue) and a 6X8 Intuos 2 (Silver).I bought my first Intuos in 2002, the big 12X12, which proved to be too cumbersome after sometime. I exchanged it with my friend who has the 6X8 that I carried with me to US during my graduate studies. Soon afterwards, I seized the opportunity of another similar one at a cost of US80 from a student who was graduating and returning to his home country. I was so lucky. 2 years later after I graduated I landed an internship in Disney as a Visual Designer / Art Intern. They bought me an Intuos 3 12X9 which I loved using. When Intuos 4 came about, I couldn't wait further. Now I am using it for all my digital painting at home since I left my Internship with Disney.

Intuos 4 comes in a nice sleek package, black and shiny. It was like unveiling a sports car when I saw it for the first time as it arrived at my doorstep. There isn't a lot of fuss installing it. Within minutes it is good to go. The thing I am impressed of is the ability to configure the Intuos for right and left handed use. Next the wire to the tablet is detachable so mobility is pretty enhanced. I love the black drawing surface which is matted so my hand will not "stick" to it as I glide my arm across the tablet. An improvement!

The touch wheel is like operating an iPod. It can be configured to different key strokes. I used it more for increasing and decreading my brush sizes on the fly without the need to reach out to my keyboard for the "[ ]" keys.

The improved tablet surface is great for painting. I am no longer "sliding" on the surface as it provides a certain resistance as though you are drawing on paper. Not exactly but still my hand is aching after like half hour of painting. (Not sure whether this is good though). Anyway after a week of testing, I realized that my stylus tip has already worn off quite a bit. Fear not, the package comes with an assortment of stylus tips well hidden in the pen holder. Twist it open to see them. There is a total of about 8-10 tips in there.

One thing that I am not liking the new tablet is, it is catching dust easily. Especially the stylus. You will know what I mean. The black surface also allows dust to be clearly seen under the light.

Overall, 5 stars to the new tablet!!

Ouch!!! A blow to my faith in people.

JimboJimboJimbo — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:49:00 GMT

My confidence in people has been dealt a serious blow this week and I'm still recoiling from the initial assault, my own reaction and the reaction of others on the forum.

After posting artwork for a poster that I've been working on and hoping to get some feedback from others to help improve it I was shocked to find the first post, from a very well established forum user and artist of considerable skill, was nothing short of a personal attack based on nothing more than my choice of user name, post title and project title. Without going into the fine detail the advice offered by this person to me was; "I have two - one for you, and one for everyone else: For you, I'd suggest making at least some tiny effort to involve yourself in the community; for everyone else, I'd suggest not commenting on your work until then."

I usually a very calm and tolerant person who isn't quick to rush in to confrontation or resort to vulgar language but this post cut deep and stung like hell. In hindsight I should have taken the time to think about my response calmly and settle my rattled state of mind and emotion - unfortunately I didn't and my response to the user in question began with dialogue I won't repeat. Needless to say it indicated what I thought this person could do with their comment and highlighted a foreseen difficulty they might have in doing it before going on to express my shock and objection as well as justification for my selection of user name, post title and project title.

Perhaps because of a degree of forum naivety I was surprised by the reprimand issued to me by a couple of other forum members. Their responses mainly inspired by my choice of language and void of any disagreement with the initial post.

Thankfully with the intervention of a forum moderator the matter has seemingly been resolved but it has seriously made me question any future involvement I might have in the forums.

When it comes down to it. Being and aspiring artist I don't really see myself as having much to offer in the way of advice to others. I don't have an extensive portfolio of finished work and while I enjoy the process of creating work, I haven't yet created a piece that I've looked at upon completion and gone "WOW" that's awesome, I've actually produced something worthwhile."

Is it enough to simply comment on peoples work; "That's a really great composition", "Fantastic use of colour", "Wow what and awesome pose"? Is this what I should be doing in the forum as a way of becoming more involved?

If you have an opinion I would love to hear it, because right now I'm about ready to drop it and simply go back into my on little sphere of isolation - it's nice and comfortable there.

Stations Stories ~ New World

Jason Embury — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:37:00 GMT

Tony Washington has been a digital artist in comics, film and animation for over 12 years now. This is his 2nd CD release. If you're into techno, down tempo, electronic music at all, this is a must listen. Not only is the dude a SUPREMELY talented, all around artist, he's recorded and produced one hell of a fine CD here. Seriously great sounding stuff. The Road Ahead is definitely a stand out track on this CD, a lot of Thievery Corporation undertones in it. Give it a listen and go support his new effort if you like what you hear!

They owe me a £20

phoenicorn — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:30:00 GMT

well on monday I reach the ripe old age of 22. An age my first doctors never thought I'd reach so I guess I should rub it in their face and say you lost the bet or something hahaha.

well I will be on holiday over my birthday for a change of scenery (no major party coz I am still getting over the virus). Just so you all know I am getting stornger by the day but still feel a wee bit groggy but great news is I can pick up the old pencil again (my arm is now whole again (with the pencil)).

Well yesterday I visited the exhibition that I was suposted to be in (for the college project) and I must say I was glad it wasn't my first as the space the digital art section was promised never materialised, instead my mates were given half a wall (small wall) where they chold show off 2 pictures. the wall was even complete with pillar standing in the way of the work. this was a real shame for them and TBH it felt like I dodged a bullet.

So anyway Happy Birthday to me on the 22nd of June and to many more years of harrassing everyone on IFX

Tough choice made

phoenicorn — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:04:00 GMT

First off I am not writing this for sympathy. It has taken me a long time to decide whether to post this or not but I feel this may help others in a similar position.

With a heavy heart I have decided to defer going to university until september 2010. I feel I am on the verge of something (artisticaly) and feel that if I go to university this september it will take me longer to realise my goal. I also feel that if I decided to go to university this year the decision will have been made out of pride and will not be benifitial for my growth as an artist. My final reason for this is the virus I have is going to take a while to get out of my system.

So no rumors circulate about why I went to hospital I shall spill the reason. I have contracted viral menigitis and apparently the doctors couldn't understand how I was still able to stand (I couldn't understand why I had to stop). Pride got in the way of sorting the problem out as I have had headaches for nearly a fortnight. I was going in to college sick because I was unwilling to listen to my body. I have been on anti viral drugs for 10days and it seems to have done the trick. But I still need plenty of rest.

In some ways I needed this to happen as I have learnt more about myself during this time through helping someone in the cubical next to mine in hospital. I finally figgured what makes me tick.

So why have I said all this? First off for the reason that this kind of finalises my desission and second if anyone else is facing a hard choice to tell them they probably know the ansawer but it isn't the ansawer they wanted. The hard rout tends to be the right one.

Some one wise (well perhaps wise isn't the word ) told me on DA that I don't need to suffer anymore. Not to sound like an emo but the only was we learn is through the suffering we get through our own trials (atleast in my opinion) Everyone is saying I have alot of potential and I never doubted that but the one thing in my mind that has always held me back is pride. I have taken the first step to resolving that.

OMG that was quite serious for me better lower the tone abit (can't let you lot think im human)

BEWBZ!

Epic Fail! Amber Alert!

Devillo — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:58:00 GMT

So, Ive been unemployed for 13 weeks, my £1000 Redundacy has been whittled down to £100 and Im up for a review today where depending on if they are actual human being or vampire Nazis from Pluto, I could get my benefits cut off. So, here's the deal. I always do what I can to support other artists when they have issues, even when my own money is tight. Now I'm praying that Karma works out for me in the same way, despite the fact my own 'fanbase' is much smaller.

So first of all, IM AN ARTIST! I make artwork, the idea being for money. But in all honesty pretty much everything in my gallery's has been done for free. I'm going to be very greatful if people actually look at my commission information on my front page and actually make use of it.

For the sake of keeping folk where I need them in this journal,

Sketches: £4.00/$8.00 - http://devillo.deviantart.com/art/Ta...ketch-58693127

Inked: £8.00/$15.00 - http://devillo.deviantart.com/art/Deadpool-and-company-123026111

Digital: £15.00/$29.00 - http://devillo.deviantart.com/art/Redburr-121827966

Journal/Forum/Account Icon: £5/$10 - http://devillo.deviantart.com/art/Noir-Icon-Commissions-119282792

Now, here's the part I REALLY hate. The pan handling. I hate the idea of waving a tin around for donations, especially as I actually prefer to EARN what I get. But if you have a few spare bits of change, my Paypal is at Wormwood_thorn@hotmail.com.

Also, I do have a few print collections already available to buy online. My collected portfolio http://www.lulu.com/content/1289346 My short comic Morbido http://www.lulu.com/content/1284058 and my Fanatic obsession prints. All of these are SERIOUSLY cheap priced. So come on.