After much growling, cursing, and pulling my hair out I finally got my old PDA to sync up with my computer. I'm still not sure what I did to finally succeed so I hope I don't have to do this again. But I know that's too much to hope for because this isn't the first time the pda and the computer stopped syncing. And every time it's a pain in the arse trying to make things right again. Anyway, now I can download some stuff I want to read when I'm not in front of the computer.

We're going to watch some anime later and then a movie we got from Netflix called Game Plan. It stars Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson. I like him. We would've watched "Crash" too, but the disc arrived cracked so I returned it right away. Today's pizza night too. Whoot!

More from my sketchbook: I drew this rose at the end of January, referencing the book "Drawing for Dummies," by B. Hoddinott.

( rose )

I hope everyone has an enjoyable weekend. :D

More drawing and shading practice ( behind the cut )

I did this one using "Drawing Dogs and Puppies" by Nolon Stacey for reference.

Warning: Housecleaning is dangerous, people!

I'll be out of commission for a couple of days because I pulled a muscle in my back when I leaned over too far while hanging drapes in the bedroom. Ugh. I was in a bit of agony when I woke up this morning so I popped an Ibuprofen. When I finish up here I'll slather some Ben Gay on the area or slap on one of those hot/cold patches if I find one in the medicine cabinet. This better clear up soon because I have a lot of stuff to get done before Christmas.

I've been staying away from the internet as much as possible lately. Avoiding that addiction allows me to get so many other things done. I only visit 3 sites daily now, one being my LJ of course. I might not comment a lot but I do read everyone on my friend's list. :D

I didn't get much drawing practice in this week, but I did manage to work on another bird picture. I like this one better than the first one I did a few weeks ago. I used, "Pencil Drawings," by Gene Franks for the reference.

( Drawing practice: Bird #2 )

Yesterday we celebrated our wedding anniversary by eating at Applebees. I had a delicious, tender steak with garlic mashed potatoes. Yummmm! I also indulged in a couple of apple martinis. *wide grin* We spent some time at the nearby mall doing some window shopping mostly. I got a new sketchbook and picked up Christmas cards. I'll probably start working on those next week.

My mother-in-law is having Thanksgiving dinner again this year. She's Italian so of course there will be homemade lasagna to go along with the turkey. Lasagna happens to be a favorite of mine, but I'm really going to try not to pig out this year. Yeah, right. lol

We'll pull out the Christmas decorations on Friday and get to work since the hubby has the day off. Yep, it's going to be a busy weekend. Soon I'll have to start baking since I give homemade cookies and cakes to several folks on my Christmas gift-giving list. I already know that the coming month is going to be a blur with all the house cleaning, shopping, wrapping, and baking going on. I probably won't be able to focus much on writing or drawing practice for a while but that's okay.

I did a little writing for my storyboard this morning. Now I'm going to start on the laundry then I need to brush the dogs. Oh, I have to call my daughter too and get a list of things the grandkids want for Christmas.


( Drawing Practice )

Around this time every year I seem to turn into a cleaning fanatic. I think it's because Christmas is right around the corner and I have the family over for a big bash on Christmas Eve. This weekend I started things off by washing the kitchen walls. Maybe this spring I'll paint the entire house. Anyhoo, I'm a bit achy today. Why does the body start to rebel so quickly when we get older?

I now realize it was foolish of me to create another LJ for my creative endeavors since I rarely add anything to it. I'll probably let it fall by the wayside and use this one for everything. For over a year I've been practicing on drawing people, anime style. But suddenly I'm craving more so I've been working with some actual "how to draw" books.

The picture behind the cut is one I did a couple of weeks ago. It's one of the lessons in "Pencil Drawing" by Gene Franks. The book is part of Walter Foster's Artist's Library Series. It took me about 3 hours to draw and shade this picture. I'm fairly happy with the results.

( Stuffed animal drawing )

A few months ago I watched a bit of this anime series (and I can't recall the name of it) where the main character ran around taking pictures of clouds. Maybe he had a cloud fetish, who knows. But anyway, for some strange reason I started thinking about this the other day while sitting on my deck. Suddenly, I found myself staring up at the clouds cruising along the sky and, of course, pictures started to form.

"Wow," I said to myself. Yes, I talk to myself occasionally. Don't we all? Go on, admit it!

Okay, I'm getting back on topic now. After I let loose with that "wow," I started thinking that snapping pictures of the cloud images I saw might provide me with inspiration for drawing in the future...um, when I learn how to draw better, that is.

Now, taking pictures of the things I see in the passing clouds is my new hobby!

So...what does this cloud look like to you?

Last night, we watched several hours of "Live Earth." Bon Jovi did another fantastic performance. The band is tight. They make live performances look easy. And they really know how to work the crowd. Bravo to them for an excellent job. I was bouncing around in my chair and wilding flapping my arms around to their music. Hey, at least I got a little exercise! *laughs*

It looks like it's going to be another day spend indoors since the temperature is suppose to hit 95. Ugh! Too hot for me. I guess we could catch up on watching the anime we put on hold yesterday.

This week I'd like to get back to practicing my drawing. I've been at a loss for what to work on but before I fell asleep last night I started thinking about trying to draw pictures of all the characters I created for my old storyboards. So, yeah, that's what I might do.

I'm been feeling quite bored when I come online lately. I guess it's because I don't have anyone to talk with or write with like I did in the past. It was fun to turn on Yahoo IM and yak with my writing partners about plot lines and just any old thing. The hours would fly by. Now I spend most of my time looking at web sites and yawning. Plus there aren't many people around during the day when I'm available to sit in front of the pc. I really miss that, but I suppose it's a good thing since my house is now cleaner and I'm getting a lot more reading done. Speaking of reading, I just started on book one of the Dresden Files. So far, so good. If things keep up this way I should get through the pile of books stacked up on my table in no time.

I finally scanned in the pictures I drew a couple months ago of Ed Elric (Full Metal Alchemist), and Yusuke Urameshi (Yu Yu Hakusho). It's funny that they both wear a similar angry expression on their faces. I can't remember what I used as a reference for these drawings. It was probably Newtype, Anime Insider, or screen caps. Yes, 98% of the time I need references since I'm still a newbie when it comes to drawing. Hopefully, once I feel more confident about what I'm doing, my inner creativity will ignite and I will then be able to draw something from pure imagination.

I haven't drawn anything of interest lately because I've been trying my best to follow along with a couple of those "how to draw anime" books. Most of my work at the moment consists of circles and other shapes. And, I've been devoting quite a bit of time on trying to get body proportions correct.

Today I realized that I've been spending way too much time in front of the pc, perusing various LJ communities and checking out profiles, looking for people who share some of my interests. I'm in a mixed up place right now. A part of me is eager to find a writing partner since I do my best writing when I collaborate with another. But another part of me wants to simply chill out this summer and not have to worry about characters and plot lines. *deep sigh* At times like this I'd like to give myself a good kick in the ass while screaming, "Make up your damn mind!"

I'm going to try to get a 20 minute walk in now before the thunderstorms roll in.

( Drawings )

It's pouring outside right now and only 47 degrees so I don't see myself doing any walking today. *pouts* I guess I'll force myself to do more spring cleaning. I think I might try to organize my graphics folder too since I have a hard time finding what I'm looking for. Talk about overcrowded!

Drawing practice is going slow now that I'm spending more time outside trying to get my yard in shape. It's not often I'm happy with the things I draw, but I'm somewhat pleased by how these pretty boys from Saiunkoku Monogatari turned out.

( Ran, Seiran, and Kouyuu )

Since nobody feels like cooking this year, my mother-in-law is taking us to a nice restaurant for Easter brunch. That means I have to start hunting through my closet for something decent to wear. I already informed the hubby that we're going to the mall tomorrow if I can't find anything that fits. Easter came around before I could put my weight loss plan into motion. I'm still determined though and plan to take off 10-15 pounds this summer. I even dragged out the hand weights from my closet.

I spent a little time on drawing practice yesterday, focusing on body shapes. The result of my effort is behind ( The Cut )

Watched 2 of my favorite Food Network programs last night: Bobby Flay's Throwdown and Ace of Cakes. I get a kick out of watching these guys. Now that I don't have to spend my evenings adding rapid posts to my now defunct message board, I see myself watching more tv. At present I'm only addicted to "24" and "House."

Today I'm in the mood to play around with html and css. I bet I forgot a lot since I haven't worked on my web page in over a year. That's the bummer...if you don't keep working with this stuff, it's like starting all over again.

I'm a little nervous about putting up any of my art here since I'm only a beginner, but I guess we all have to start somewhere. Behind the cut is a drawing I did based on Squall from Final Fantasy 8. I colored it in using paint shop pro. I'm not completely happy with the coloring and might try to rework it someday.

( My version of Squall )

I just got home from having breakfast with the hubby at the local restaurant. The food is good and the prices reasonable, so we normally have breakfast there every Saturday and Sunday.

I thought I might be able to sneak a walk in later today but ditched the idea since it's raining and cold. When the hubby gets back from visiting his mom, we'll probably order a pizza and sit down to watch all the anime episodes that are piling up on my computer.

On to my new hobby...I've read over and over again that the only way to get better at drawing is to practice, practice, practice. With that in mind, I try to spend 1-2 hours a day drawing images from the, How to draw anime books I have on hand. Right now I constantly have to use a reference to draw, but hopefully in the future I will be able to create a picture directly from my imagination. Behind the cut I've placed some practice I did on head angles from "Anime and Game Characters," by Tadashi Ozawa.

( Head Angles )