I've noticed that a LOT of people are disabling comments and I wonder why? Too much childish bullshit going on? Too much spam?

Guys, once upon a time DeviantART didn't have ANY spam comments. It was amazing. I miss those days.

I wasn't driving. I was walking. He drives up, rolls down the window, and says something I don't quite hear. I say hello. He repeats it.  "How old are you?"  

I'm in shock. I ask, "How OLD am I?"

"Yes."

"I'm 29!!" (I'm sure I sounded incredulous.)

He stares.

I say, "I have my license if you want to see it." He wants to see it so I give it to him. He looks and hands it back.

He thought I was a highschool truant.

The moral of the story is that I should stop wearing clothing a teenager might wear because as I continue to get older and not to age it will become more and more unbelievable that I am as old as I say I am and I don't look forward to being driven in the back of a police car to the nearest high school, in tears BECAUSE I HAVE ALREADY DONE MY TIME!

So at FWA I'll be doing a few art panels and I'd like some input from those of you who go to art panels or have thought about attending one.

Firstly, what kind of panel you would want to see from me. What kind of information do you think would be the most useful to you?

I've only done one before and that was a kind of acrylic-troubleshooting Q and A that went down pretty well. I might do that again.

Seeking programmer proficient in php, javascript/jquery and mySQL

I'm posting this on behalf of my employer:  

We are searching for a programmer for an ongoing, long-term freelance/part time position.  We are currently seeking someone who has at least 20 hours per week to devote to work on the site, and preferably 30+ hours.  This position will NOT suit someone who is already employed full time or is taking full time studies.  

Please do not apply if you are not certain that you have 20 - 30+ hours to devote per week or if you are not prepared to start immediately, as we do have a backlog of work that needs catching up

The job involves programming tasks for an already established virtual pet site (khimeros.com).  Some of the scripts involved are quite complex, so the successful applicant MUST be proficient in php/javascript/jquery/mySQL.  Sorry, but since we do need someone who can begin tasks right away, we must hire an applicant who is already experienced.  In addition to work on khimeros, there is a second complex site that needs to be programmed from scratch.

Familiarity with iMagick is useful but not required as long as you are willing to learn.

Must be available to work throughout the week (not looking for someone who can only work on weekends for example, though there is some flexibility in your days and hours of work).   Must be comfortable with communicating via IM program (aim, skype) and have excellent command of written English and excellent communication skills.

A relevant programming degree is required.

Starting rate is $20/hr USD with the opportunity to earn a higher hourly rate once you show us what you can do.  A higher wage may be negotiated after one month's time, if you have shown that you can not only perform programming tasks but can take assignments and complete them on time, communicate effectively, and are actually committed to the job.  

A formal resume is not required, I'm more interested in your programming skills than your resume writing skills

An informal email outlining your skills and experience is fine, however you may send a resume if you wish.

Send emails to khimeros@gmail.com addressed to Kitty.

I'm diving back into studies and plan to scope out some real deal artists to 'shadow' in order to become a better artist. So if you guys know of any super good ones, chuck 'em at me.

I do have some idea of what I'm looking for. I want to avoid people on DeviantART, same-style concept artists, or pretty much anyone working in the entertainment industry. Current artists are alright so long as they don't fall into these categories. ( I had a classmate who pointed out a bunch of good ones but I lost the list. DAMN!)

Ye olde timey artists are good. Right now I'm looking at William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Anything Romantic period or Hudson River School is super amazing. Also La Tour and Vermeer. And Rembrandt.

Buuuut those are all painters (plus some etching) and I'd love to be pointed in the direction of someone more recent whose focus is in drawing. Or whatever. Just whatever you've come across that looks good (think art museum caliber). Doesn't have to be realistic rendering with classical themes. You art history kids know what I mean.

I'm posting this on behalf of my employer:  

We are searching for a programmer for an ongoing, long-term freelance/part time position.  Hours of work required changes month to month depending on what is needed, but approximately 20-30 hours per month or 60+ hours per month depending on whether the applicant is interested in working for one site or two.  These are virtual pet game sites with somewhat advanced features, especially in regards to image generation/breeding scripts.  The sites are khimeros.com and a new site that is in development.

Must be available to work throughout the week (not looking for someone who can only work on weekends for example, must be available to put a few hours in at least every couple of days and be available to take care of emergencies promptly).   Must be comfortable with communicating via IM program (aim, skype) and have excellent command of written English and excellent communication skills.

The successful applicant MUST be proficient in php/MySQL and javascript.  Knowledge of iMagick, codeigniter, or having worked with any framework before is a big plus, but not necessary if they are willing to learn. Knowledge of codeigniter/frameworks is not necessary if the applicant wishes to work on khimeros.com alone.

A relevant programming degree is required.

Starting rate is $20/hr USD with the opportunity to earn a higher hourly rate once you show us what you can do.  A higher starting wage is possible for those with extensive experience.  Payment is via paypal only.

A formal resume is not required, I'm more interested in your programming skills than your resume writing skills  An informal email outlining your skills and experience is fine, however you may send a resume if you wish.  Send emails to khimeros@gmail.com addressed to Kitty.



The employer is in the hiring process with a few people so we don't need any more applicants right now. I might put up another in the future, though, if she needs more coders. Thanks!

Uuuugh you guys, my sleep has been so terrible. I woke up out of a pretty entertaining dream, though.

I was taking a photography class at Hogwarts and Snape was our teacher. I think Ron and Harry might also have been in our class but I never did see them. Our assignment at the time was to get ten outstanding photographs of animals in their natural habitat and he told us we had to roll up our pant-legs and go wading in a swamp full of alligators and poisonous snakes if we hoped to get any good ones. He meant this literally. This was our assignment. (Oh, Snape! )

So I actually did it; I took off my shoes and wandered into the bog, dodging snakes and snapping away. I took so long about it that I missed the start of critique and I sort of ran into Snape with some of my classmates on a bridge while I was headed back to the castle. He was reviewing their photos (and grading ruthlessly, as he does). He saw me and said, "What are you doing? You knew we had critique."

I answered, "Yeah, I know. I'm not ready. I want to say I have ten good ones but it was dark in the swamp and I think I had my aperture set all wrong. I know this is going to affect my grade. Is there any way I can make it up? Maybe get some extra credit?"

He said, "I think there is."  

So we cut class then and there, went to a bar, got a little shitfaced, and took these incredibly goofy staged photos of the two of us having weirdly overacted conversations. We were supposed to be criminals in a speakeasy engaged in dirty dealings involving money and liquor. I'm pretty sure one of us was wearing pinstripes. Maybe both of us. ( I have a very strong suspicion we never showed these photos to anyone afterward. )

It was good. Good times.

If you are going.

It'll be first come, first serve. So come by my table. I'll be right at the front of the DD

I'm wondering how many of you there are out there and if any of you would be interested in any art excursions or adventures. Probably more when the weather is warmer. The Botanical Gardens in Norfolk are super sweet, as is Williamsburg. Great opportunities for photos/painting/whatever. One of my newyears resolutions is not to be such an incorrigible hermit

I'm uploading a backlog of stock images to for all art use. You can pull from them to fill out my speedpainting meme. No attribution required, really. I HATE jumping through hoops using other people's stock so I make mine super easy.

Wondering if anyone else here has been? It's pretty groovy. I like all the old buildings. Bet it's super sweet in the spring with all the magnolias blooming and other spring flowers.

Gotta say, I'm surprised and super puzzled. Most of my poses are boring and not terribly expressive. Neither is my artwork very flowing. Granted, it's something I need to work on so making a tutorial would probably aid me as well, but I'm kind of scratching my head as to why people thought I'd be qualified to make such a tutorial!!

Regardless of that, I will do my best. For those of you who voted for poses, would you care to elaborate on what you wanted? Because 'how to make artwork flow' can be interpreted in a few different ways. It could refer to the line-style. It could mean the composition. You could also explain to me what in my work you feel is a good example of what you are looking to learn and link to an example if possible.

I only had ten slots, so I had to leave some out. Here are some links to good tutorials I have found on various subjects mentioned that I had to leave out:

Speedpainting:

bird wings:

color: The Gnomon Workshop has some really amazingly good DVDs and stuff. [link]

scales:

If you do a search you'll find a lot of good stuff and a lot of crap stuff. You'll just have to pick through

I've been doing my christmas requests and they're great, I like to make individuals happy, but I've been thinking that it might be more broadly useful to everyone if I gifted the community with some tutorials. So tell me what you'd most be interested and please second ones if you like an idea that's already been posted. I might put up a poll at the end to see which get the most votes.

three Deviants, which would they be?

I love a lot of Deviant artists and it's hard to pick just three. I'm basing my choices on who make me gnash my teeth with pure envy the most.

Here are mine:







What kind of art would I make after stealing said brain juice? Very dark, gritty, super-emotive people with cuddly, soft lines. And it would be MARVELOUS. And I'd have to get back into metal-smithing only long enough to fashion a wedding ring for my pencil, because I'd be THAT in love with drawing. People wouldn't be able to pry a sketchbook out of my fingers  

Now I'm going to go back to studying anatomy and sob because I still have so SO far to go.



P.S. for the love of lambs, this is meant to be fun and silly and tongue-in-cheek. I thought the marrying-my-pencil part would give it away.

(Warning. This will contain uncomfortable reminiscences and swearing)

So I went to see the Hobbit this evening. I'm late to the party, I know. I'm really not the biggest Tolkein fan in the world. I don't speak Elvish. I haven't memorized which swarthy dude begat which swarthy dude which begat this or that character that appears for a brief moment in one of the books.

But the Hobbit nevertheless occupies a very important part of my history. One that I hadn't really thought about until tonight.

There was a period of my life during which I and my family were homeless. We lived in a tent first and then a camper. For any of you who've lived a fringe existence or have been a member of an abusive or dysfunctional family, you know that the violence or drug use or whatever it may be is bad, but having to keep it a secret and feeling alienated from your peers and from the human species in general is really the worst part. It's not something you get over. As for an animal who hasn't been properly socialized when it's young, people will always be something to mistrust or hide from rather than look forward to interacting with. Fortunately for my brother and I, my mother was invested in doing what she could to make the whole thing bearable and part of that was reading to us every evening before bed. The first book she read to us was The Hobbit. It remains one of my favorite memories.  

In addition to this, my closest and longest childhood friend and I completely wore out her VHS of the animated version. I feel incredibly sorry for anyone who doesn't understand how awesome it is, in spite of its flaws and its goofiness.

So when I went to see the movie this evening I expected to go on an action-packed, rather stupid Hollywood adventure, which I did, but I didn't expect so many recollections involved.

So here are some of my thoughts on the movie, as a fan, but not the greatest fan, of the Hobbit:

LOL, I don't understand the hot dwarves. I really REALLY can't wait to see hilarious slash of Bilbo and Thorin or Bilbo and bowl-cut dwarf or Bilbo and the two, sexy young dwarves or Bilbo and Smaug or WHATEVER! If you find anything really good, send it to me and I'll pass it around to all of my cohorts so we can giggle hysterically.

Motherfucking elves. When I was a kid I thought they were OK. In the Lord of the Rings, I found Legolas's doe-eyed sexy super-poweredness to be stupid, but he was *supposed* to be kind of stupid. Right? RIGHT?! I hope so. But man, what a lot of smug, obnoxious Mary Sues. I've got less and less tolerance these days for the super-pretty characters who live forever and always smell like spring flowers and never have cavities or diarrhea or sexual hang-ups or anything that make people interesting. I think the PJ films must play up the unbearable sexiness of the elves, posing on sunlit cliffs and shit, because it never really bothered me while reading the books. I mean, the dwarves can get pretty unbearable but they're also hairy and smelly and have flaws and personalities.

As someone who has the book practically seared into my brain, I found the changes they made to be annoying but pretty shrug-worthy. That's just the way movies work. I'm cool with that.

More wizards should wear bird shit smeared down their head. Seriously. It's just what the Harry Potter series needed.

I don't think PJ really understands how not-bad-ass Bilbo really is. I'm getting pretty tired of characters doing these unbelievably heroic things and then going: Ho hum. Oh no, I'm just an ordinary dude who wants to sit in my arm chair; I'm not brave at all!   Well I'm calling bullshit.

Other than that, I liked Bilbo just fine and the dwarves just fine, though there was altogether too much dramatic posing on Thorin's part. I really really wish he'd busted out his harp because fierce-warrior-dwarf scowling and brooding and playing a harp is too good.

I really can't get over how awful animals still look in CGI films. The deer or elk or whatever the woodland king was riding looked more sculpture than living creature and the wargs, which I realize are supposed to be monsters, nevertheless resembled those horrible 'soft taxidermy' stuffed monstrosities that surface on DA occasionally. Maybe it's the film they used but I did not find it at all convincing.

Can't wait for Smaug. Loved the animated version. I am strong, strong, STRONG!  pfff.  Too good.

That's all for now. I'll leave you with this. Because it's awesome: [link]

OK guys, so I was suggested over a hundred people for gifting and I suspect there will be a few more. I definitely can't do all of them. I'm going to pick at random and finish what I can. They're going to be simple art and I'll be using them to experiment with different styles so some are going to turn out better than others. We'll see how it goes :F

A few years back I did this and I liked the project a lot. Subsequent years I found myself too busy. This year I'm going to try to squeeze a few in between my regular work (as in, making a living work).

So here's the deal. You are going to gift someone else with an art from me. Just leave a link to that person's gallery and I'll take a look, pick out one of their characters or something, and do a doodle for them for Christmas. It won't be super complex and might just be a sketch, but hey, it's free art for your friend for Christmas :3

Once I've got a journal full of comments I'm just going to go through at random and do as many as I've got time for. It might be only one or two, and it might be a whole lot. Either way, please don't be annoyed that I didn't get to you. I might have gotten WAY too many responses and/or have too much work.

So plop down someone's icon, someone who's been a good friend to you or who doesn't have much and really deserves a little gift, or whatever. If you'd like to include your reason for why you picked them, please do. Also if you know there's something they really love and want to make a suggestion, like: they really adore pokemon, go ahead. Broad suggestions, though. This is gift art and I'd like some freedom.

I've created a new account for my derpy fanart and human doodles. People who like that kind of stuff can go and bask in the goofiness. I might re-upload some stuff there. I dunno yet.

Anyway, here it is:

Enjoy!

Hey, dudes and dudettes. Thanks for all the birthday drawings. They cheered me immensely.

Things are going pretty alright here. I'm enjoying all the pine trees in VA and all the new birds. Right now what occupies most of my art time is doing work for Khimeros/Aluriya and I also have some outstanding commissions to finish up for Talin and Liz. In between all that I've been scribbling practice art.

So until I start feverishly trying to get work together for a new con, I'm afraid all you're going to see are my stupid doodles.