GraNoWriMo: an Announcement

You may or may not know about a yearly challenge that thousands of writers commit themselves to, called NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month is just what the name suggests: a challenge to write a novel in a month. It was very successful (in my case) in getting me motivated to write. And, it was hard. Get a thesaurus, look up hard, and every synonym under that word can be used to describe NaNoWriMo. 50,000 words in 30 days.
Nevertheless, it got me thinking; Why not write a graphic novel in a month?
And this is where I am now. Using the theory that a picture is worth a thousand words, I will try to write/ draw fifty pages of a graphic novel this summer. First I’ll write a page-by-page outline of the graphic novel, and, depending on how long that takes me, I’ll draw the pages in either July or August. Up at the beginning of this post are the two main characters, Sylvia and Capri (respectively).

One Grain of Rice

I have been thinking a lot about what it would be like to be a grain of rice. From the start, it seems as though they’re insignificant, one among many being harvested in the fields.

Say, the grain of rice in question was “born” in the south of China, where so many others were being “born”. Even within its own plant the grain of rice is insignificant. One of many. Take that and compare the grain of rice to the entire field. Then compare it to the entire farm. Compare it to all of China. Then compare it to the entire world. A world of rice. I, myself, cannot comprehend the vast number of grains of rice that can fit in just one sack. How many grains of rice, then, are in the world?

And yet rice is so important. Entire cultures are centered around rice as their main food. Ecosystems have been built off of rice. There were one less grain of rice, the world wouldn’t notice, but if there were no rice at all the world would be completely different.
All the same, a grain of rice lead a very glamorous life. It is separated from its plant, then dried for shipping, and packaged-to be shipped somewhere in this giant world. As soon as the rice reach is its destination, it’s there just waiting for something to happen. After however long it waits (a day maybe, or month, or a year) the rice is boiled, steamed, or fried, or all of those.
Some grains of rice are eaten immediately after being cooked, but others are not as lucky. The most unpleasant way to go, as a grain of rice, is to be used to make sushi. Imagine- after all the pain of being cooked, a grain of rice must be rolled tightly up against seaweed, or rice paper, or even raw fish, avocado or something.

Eventually, depending on the consumer’s talent with chopsticks, The grain of rice will be eaten.For your sake, I won’t even begin to describe what it looks like inside of a mouth eating sushi*, but you get the idea. Grains of rice lead hard lives. Now, I never used to envy grains of rice, but now I know that I never will in the future.

*In case you actually were wondering, check this out, to see what my sister posted on the subject.

Sweet Dreams…?

Let me open with the topic of my thoughts- that way you can decide whether or not you want to stay to chat about it.

Sweet Dreams

I’ll go out and say that this painting is based on Michael in Peter Pan. I don’t know why I chose to use him for this idea. Maybe it’s that he seems so prepared for his dreams. Whatever his imagination can throw at him is no match for him. I just imagine Michael wearing pinstriped blue and white itchy pajamas, dragging his teddy, and fully prepared for that train heading towards him, or whatever that light is. Michael may be small, but he is strong. Yes, I think Michael will have sweet dreams.

I’m Obsessed with Myself.

Self portraits are always fun, but harder than drawing or painting other people. You never know if you’re doing it correctly!

Selfie!

This is the original photo.

This is the very first “photo realistic” portrait I’ve tried. I don’t think it’s finished yet, so I wanted to know what you think. I’m planning on putting a second coat on the pink, dark purple, and yellow. I also want to define the edges. Oh, and my mouth is smiling more in the original picture.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

The Daily Commute

 

The Daily Commute, featuring Fido and a businessman.

Thoughts on Selfish Time Travelers, Consequences, and Change

Think of any movie, book or story of any kind that is centered around time travel. Make sure it is one in which the world can change through time travel (not one in which time is like a puzzle, and you can’t make the world any different by going back in time and messing something up). What is the plot about?

Chances are that the story is about a novice time traveler. He goes back in time, but changes the world in ways he or she didn’t intend to. Next, he goes back in time again to prevent himself from changing the world in the first place. At the end of the story, the world is back to normal, in the present, or possibly in better shape than it was in the beginning to the story. Basically, every time travel story of this sort are based off of the movie, Back to the Future. Maybe they aren’t- I don’t know everything- but this is what I want to post about today.

No, Pocahontas Didn’t Own Mascara

Is it true that all book lovers hate inaccurate film adaptations? Probably.

Is it true that all history lovers hate inaccurate film adaptations? Oh, yes- with a burning passion.

I recently watched a film adaptation of the story of Pocahontas, by Disney. Oh, you’ve heard of it? A part of your childhood, you say? Maybe I’m mishearing you (I do tend to do that quite a bit) but as a child I’m pretty sure you weren’t thinking about inaccuracies with historical fact.

The movie was pretty good; the characters were okay, the world was believable, there was adequate comic relief and everything (And don’t forget the songs every fifteen minutes!), but I just wish that Disney had done more research. Here are some hard facts you probably didn’t know about Pocahontas, thanks to her inaccurate portrayal.

• She didn’t magically pick up English, through her love of a man named John.
• Pocahontas married John Rolf (possibly for political reasons)… she and John Smith were on a strict “just friends” basis. There was nothing there, not even a love triangle.
• She was actually very serious and level-headed, and not a daydreamer with a beautiful voice.
• In fact, Pocahontas wasn’t very pretty at all. She didn’t English women’s cosmetics (oils, powders, perfumes) and didn’t bathe often*.
• Pocahontas was baptized in America and christened Rebecca in America, and moved to England, where she lived until her death.

I’ll keep it at five points, because the facts just get more boring from here. However, there are infinite misconceptions surrounding Pocahontas (or should I say, Rebecca Rolf?).

All this to say that, although I don’t agree with the historical inaccuracies of that Disney movie, I did love the art. I was even inspired to draw my own piece based off of the art of the movie.

Oh, the historical inconsistencies.

*To be fair, no one really did at the time.

How to Become Human: a scientific examination (first draft)

This is the first draft of my short story(?) How to Become Human: a scientific examination. It’s very new and fresh off my imaginary presses. Constructive criticism appreciated.

I am a freak of nature.

I’m not the only one- all of my sisters are, too. As is my father, my entire family, and everyone I know, actually. We are all freaks. None of us admits it, but my youngest sister, Ariel, has been growing uncertain. She wants to become human.

Ariel no longer appreciates the fish tail attached to her body, nor her gills, nor the complex cardio/vascular system that is a main part of being a mermaid. Maybe she’s right. There’s no reason that Ariel shouldn’t become a human. Anyway, she has asked me to make her human, but I don’t think she knows how completely impossible that is.

Yes, I am the most skilled scientist in all the oceans, but that only means that I am educated enough to know that odds are truly against Ariel becoming a human.

Who created the mermaids? We are surely not a natural occurrence. Whatever created us was very skilled- mermaids are much more than half of a human taped to fish’s tail. Nature has never before hosted a creature that is both a mammal and a fish. We are both warm and cool blooded. We have both scales and hair. We breathe both air and water. We have both a human’s larynx system for vocal communication and a fish’s clicking mechanism. Our tails point in the direction that whales’ and dolphins’ tails point, yet they are covered with scales.

However we came to exist, our bodies are complex, like machinery. The muscle groups of our torsos interlock seamlessly with the muscle groups of our tails. And thank goodness a mermaid’s tail is vertebrate as well as her torso. The bone structure each one of us is born with is so delicate that we are hardly half human. I have two respiratory systems, one with lungs, to filter air, and one with gills to filter water- the human respiratory system sleeps most of the time, as we live underwater. I have three hearts, two for my cold blood and one for my warm blood. I could go into all the details of my own complicated existence, but I haven’t the time.

All this to say that I can’t see any remote possibility of Ariel becoming human. What am I to do? Ariel has threatened to turn to witchcraft to get her way, if science can’t help her. I will never let Ariel turn to magic. Magic can’t do anything science can’t do- without a difficult price. I have heard horrible stories. I’d never let my sister go through with some horrible curse.

I hope Ariel has thought through this, and it’s not another of her mindless flings. One could live through her entire life without realizing that she is living masterpiece. With all this knowledge on the subject, I can’t help but admire who- or whatever created us. Forget freaks of nature. We are living, breathing, aware works of art!

Holding Water

I don’t have much of an introduction, but here goes.

I drew this piece with a humble #2 pencil. It started as an experiment with how to draw cupped hands, but I figured halfway that I could experiment with drawing water as well. Some techniques I used here were shading, forced perspective, and simple movement.

Enjoy!

This girl’s hair was based off of my friend Abby’s.
I want her dress.

Let me know what you think in the comment section, s’il vous plait. Good day!

Hands: a Love-Hate Relationship

Stay tuned; there are some drawings after all this text.

Though they aren’t usually the features you look at first in a portrait or any work of art, I have come to the conclusion that hands are some of the most important features of people in art. They indicate not only what the person is doing, but how he or she is feeling and even give a little insight on the character’s personality. Far-fetched? Maybe. Exaggerated? probably. Before you wave of my thoughts as the ramblings of a crazed artist, think about it for a moment.