Kung Fu, perfectly good tongues, and some sketchdoodles

[la_belle_laide]

Soooo last night I went to Kung Fu, and it was awesome! I was terrified before I got there. Not because of the class, but because I decided to pay in full. So I am paid up til green belt. That's probably going to be over a year, no longer than two. I went in for the long haul; I just went and did it. Commitments like that--especially where a chunk of money is involved--make me nervous. I wondered if I had made the right decision. But after class I felt that I had done well, and I felt so good, physically, too, that I knew it wasn't a mistake.

Tomorrow, when the muscle pain kicks in again, I will, of course, be whining a different tune. I mean, the warmup is brutal, to me, anyway. We're supposed to do pushups. Pushups! Please! Look at my arm to ass ratio! It's not going to happen; it's simple mechanics. And those pushup-y things you do on your elbows and all? Jaysus! But the rest of it is really awesome. I learnt how to kill someone with a punch. (Not by example, obviously.)

Then I came home and watched Octane, which might have been al all right movie if not for Madeline Stowe's character. She was so stupid that I was annoyed with every action she took, and I actually wanted her to die for her stupidity.

I've mentioned before that sometimes I think Rhys-Meyers overdoes it, and sometimes I think he's brilliant. In this one, although I wasn't wild about the movie in general, I think he was fantastic. His American accent was flawless and seemed effortless.

There were two scenes I totally couldn't watch. The first was this one. (Should I put a "disturbing image" warning on that? ;D ) The second was this one for the same reason. (In that, at first you're thinking, "Huh. Slashy." And then you're thinking, "AAAARRRGH!") My friend at work has a pierced tongue, and she drives me mad by sticking things like paper clips through it and all. It really freaks me out. God, you know how much it hurts when you just bite your tongue on accident?! Tongues in general pretty much freak me out, and those scenes made me have to look away like a little girl watching her first horror movie. And this wasn't even a horror movie. (Plus, come on! Perfectly good tongue!)

Is it me, or is JRM sometimes reminiscent of Joaquin? I'm not sure if it's the smirk or the sneer or the quirk of the eyebrow, but it's there, and I think it's part of why he appeals to me. Aside from that, he makes a perfectly menacing predator.

There was a bit of time before bed to "work" on this one sketch of mine.

It started life as these few sketchy lines:




From there, it got a little less, uhh, line-ish, I guess. And I kinda like this one better.




And then I killed it by trying to color it.




That really is the only sort of background I can do, by the way. I can't do, like, buildings and structures and whatnot. After I drew that, I realized I thought it was from this chapter, the first part, in the prison. Which, hello, is totally sloppy and which will, in future "revisions" (if you can call anything that a lazy cow such as myself does "revisions,") will probably stay mostly the same. (Aside from, you know, last name change and basically fixing up the craptacular syntax and punctuation. WTF is with the dashes followed by commas? WTF is wrong with me sometimes?) Andolin sat down just outside of reaching distance and took a very good look at the man across from him. Or, as good a look as the dim light allowed. *Nothing special,* was his immediate thought, and certainly not the heroic beauty that the town was whispering about. Across from him in plain black clothes sat a man in his younger thirties, with dusty dark hair that badly wanted cutting, as it hung past his shoulders. There was nothing organized about him, nothing courageous nor striking. It reaffirmed his belief that people were fools who saw whatever they wanted to see. (just scratch the part about "black clothes." I've come to the stunning conclusion that I can't draw both dark hair and black clothes in the same picture.)

(FTR, I'm not trying to get anyone who might be minding this blog right now to read that section, or any section anywhere at anytime. Remember, I keep this blog for myself, so I remember things. It's public because I don't mind if other people read it, too.)

The pendant? It looks neat, and you're like, "WTF! All of a sudden she can actually draw things!" But, no. I scanned my own pendant and just stuck it on him, then dicked with it a little so it didn't look so much like, ah, a Hula dancer doing Kahiko on the beach. ;) I know it's supposed to be a family crest, which, duh, has a raptor involved in it somewhere, but I can't do things like designs or anything. So instead I do smudgy lines.

I should have left it sketchy, though.

Well, I guess I'd better go and eat dinner, then, what? Chill for the rest of the night, and try to get to bed early since work tomorrow is completely busy and annoying. But! Friday!

Comments

[minrho.livejournal.com]

great job on the sketch. It looks amazing colored and the pose is lovely. My only nitpick is that the eyes are not aligned. And this is a mistake even the best artists make when they draw a face that's tilted. A tip: When drawing the eyes of the face, tilt your own face to match the slant of the subject. If you do so AFTER the fact, you'll usually notice one eye is much higher than the other, or bigger, or wrongly placed, etc.

So glad you're loving kung fu. It really is quite fulfilling and challenging, in the best way. About the pushups, though. Talk to me when you have to do pushups on your kunckles on a hardwood floor. ;)

[shonagonchan.livejournal.com]

great job on the sketch. It looks amazing colored and the pose is lovely. My only nitpick is that the eyes are not aligned. And this is a mistake even the best artists make when they draw a face that's tilted. A tip: When drawing the eyes of the face, tilt your own face to match the slant of the subject.

Thank yo so much! You're absolutely right. That's a good tip, I will try that next time. You know, another thing I noticed (and should try more often) is that if I flip the image around, then I notice how certain things are crooked, too.

About the pushups, though. Talk to me when you have to do pushups on your kunckles on a hardwood floor. ;)

We have mats, but we are supposed to do that kind of pushup. And the kind with your hands close together. I say "supposed to" because, well, it's just not going to happen. ;) I can do like three, and those are cheesy.

[triforcekt.livejournal.com]

Kung Fu! I wish I had your energy and drive. I can barely knit two rows or play my new Dance Dance Revolution game, let alone draw and write and work and do all sorts of interesting dance/physical things! Hell, I'm too lazy to even update anymore!

[shonagonchan.livejournal.com]

Katie, but you're in school and this relationship and you're just putting your energy into different things! Believe me, I am the laziest cow. I only work 3-4 days a week. ^_^ I would not be doing all of this if I worked five days a week or was in school.

I'm the same way. You'd think it was so easy to just sit around and play a video game, but sometimes I don't even have the energy for that. It's like, "I really want to finish Kingdom Hearts...but then I'd have to get up, switch the PS2 on, and then sit on the couch. Too much movement! Easier to just read web pages on urban legends for an hour." ;D

[derumi.livejournal.com]

That pendant effect is tres cool.

I dunno how to critique this one. *still trying to figure out how the eyes aren't lined up* @_@