Pawn114

[color=darkgreen]Hey Shippou, I do indeed practice 'Le Parkour' (also known as freerunning).[/color] [color=darkgreen]http://[/color][url="http://www.urbanfreeflow.com/"][color=darkgreen]www.urbanfreeflow.com[/color][/url][color=darkgreen] is a wonderful site, as is [/color][url="http://www.le-parkour.com/"][color=darkgreen]http://www.le-parkour.com[/color][/url] [color=darkgreen]Just a brief overview here:[/color] [color=darkgreen]Some of you may have seen (albeit, a bit ago) a program called 'jump london' on the discovery channel. It just recently (I believe the 26th, 27th and 28th of september) came on in Canada. This rose the publicity of le parkour immensly, and a sequel is apparently in the making. For people that dont have the time to visit urbanfreeflow.com (But if you can find time, -please- visit it. Its a valuble resource). [/color] [color=darkgreen]The ultimate goal of parkour can be expressed in a few ways. A couple I've heard are:[/color] [color=darkgreen]1. move freely in an environment meant to contain us[/color] [color=darkgreen]2. flowing over all obstacles you come across[/color] [color=darkgreen]3. find new uses for the objects[/color] [color=darkgreen]4. express our freedom of bodily movement[/color] [color=darkgreen]5. because you have to live life to its fullest[/color] [color=darkgreen]6. point A to point B, straight line, don't go round obstacles[/color] [color=darkgreen]7. to move with as much agility as possible[/color] [color=darkgreen]Now this list was taken from a post on urbanfreeflow's message boards, but I think it serves to illustrate why people practice le parkour, and its goals. Another reference would be the 'ultimate aim' my dojo adheres to. It reads[/color] [color=darkgreen][/color] [color=darkgreen]'The ultimate aim, in the art of karate, lies not in victory nor defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participents'.[/color] [color=darkgreen][/color] [color=darkgreen]This can quite easily be applied to Le Parkour. It's not so much of a sport, as an art with the ultimate goal of bettering one's self. For someone that looks at a few video's found here and there, and viewed jump london, you may get the impression it's all just jumping off rooves. Indeed, Le Parkour does contain this, and much more. The ultimate aim is to pick a point, and another point. Now you move fluidly from Point A, To Point B. [/color] [color=darkgreen][/color] [color=darkgreen] Much like water, when a small stream strikes a boulder, it doesnt crash at it endlessly, but rather flows around it. So rather then climb straight up the building (that is called buildering, by the way) you flow around it. Of course, you could just run around everything, but doesnt that take more time? So rather then run around the railing infront of you, you have a number of things you can do. You could gate vault, monkey vault, 360 vault, regular vault etc. Endless amounts of things for just one rail. And better yet, when you come back to that rail, you will probobly have some more moves in your repitoire.[/color] [color=darkgreen]Now, I know a problem with starting sports. You need to buy this, that and the other thing. Before you can even try it some of the time. All you need for Le Parkour is what your born with, and a set of good trainers (shoes). So it costs nothing to start, isnt competative, has a wonderful atmosphere at the main site (urbanfreeflow.com), and is extremely fulfilling to be able to vault something a week previous, you had thought was impossible. With this art, improvement shows in all aspects of life. [/color] [color=darkgreen][/color] [color=darkgreen] So what are you waiting for? Get on the websites, get some basics down and try it for yourself! It can be practiced Anywhere. A blockbuster near me, beside my local library, these are just 2 places I like to drill at. But I do it wherever I can. So get crackin'![/color] [color=darkgreen]-Pawn[/color]

It came up as a red x for me, so I went under properties and copied the url of it and it played up to a certain point. Where it got stuck. We bring you: (or something)... Hope it gets fixed, should be entertaining to watch

[center][size=1]Alright, I'll go over each[/size][/center] [center][b][i][size=1][color=black]-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-[/color][/size][/i][/b][/center] [size=1][b]Current Banner:[/b] I like it, but everything clashes, because they are random (oh, the irony) pictures of, presumably you. You already know about the border issue. I usually opt for a more relaxed style banner, so its not -quite- my style, but thats a personal opinion. [/size] [size=1][/size] [size=1][b]LP Avi: [/b]I dont quite know what the letters say (I2k, or Rk), so if your intention was to make them clear, that could help. The black also is a bit hard to read on the color, maybe change it around to be easier to read?[/size] [size=1][/size] [size=1][b]Icarus' Banner: [/b]First off, I love that song (Listening to it right now, actually). That having been said, The grey doesnt convey a freedom, it just seems bland. I'm not exactly sure what color would do this, but maybe experiment? That might just be me. Nice selection of the lyrics, too. I've only just started listening to Iron Maiden, so I'm not sure if the picture to the left is one of them or not, but in any case, it looks as it has been enlarged, or shrunk horizontally or vertically. Not a great deal, but still a little. You might want to try and add a border, not only around the outside of the banner, but also between the picture and the words. And maybe use a different backround other then white.[/size] [size=1][/size] [size=1][b]Inverted Sexy Six: [/b]The only reason I like this one over the one below it (original) is because the black backround. I always like a backround, so white seems too bland. The red and yellow text throw it off in my opinion, I liked the original colors. But in my opinion, anime doesnt look too great inverted. It throws it off. What program do you work with? Depending on your program, there are numerous effects you could try and use. I, personally work with paint, and tend to avoid the invert effect. Seems a little cheesy. Also, when adding a border, pull primary colors from the actual piece itself to make one, rather then throwing on a pixel-wide black border.[/size] [size=1][/size] [size=1][b]Original Sexy Six: [/b]The above comments generally apply, I like the anime characters without being inverted, but a backround would really spiff it up.[/size] [size=1][/size] [size=1][b][i][u]Overall: [/u][/i][/b]I think that they are fairly good, and with a few changes, could be some nice banners.[/size]

Ok, since Youta ranked mine, I'll just do his, and eh luu's. Youta Moteuchi - I cant see your banner, I get a red x, But that avatar is pretty cool. Maybe throw some text in it? Avatar - 7 1/2 Eh Luu - I like your banner, very simple with a powerful message and a nice, solid theme color. Nice indeed. The only problem I can see with your avatar is it has your nice twice, but I just dont like repeating stuff. Overall: 8 1/2 to 9

Wow... I really like this poem. You managed to revisit the main topic of bloody tears a few times, without making it seem to much, as i have seen before. The use of words not commonly found in the average poem that I have seen enhances it. I loved the way the overall poem flowed, and I actually cant find any problems right now. Very spiffy poem indeed

The banners are nice and all, but If you're intending to use them on Otakuboards, they're a little big. I believe the maximum dimensions are 100 tall, 500 wide. That having been said, I'll go through each in left to right, the orange bottom picture being last... 1.) The picture is a little fuzzy. If the picture was a little less fuzzy, it would be a very good job. Something I should mention, if your using them as banners on O.B, they have to be horizontal (sorry if I sound harsh, completely unintentional.) I like the way 'Us' is done. 2.) This one seems a little bland, like you just took a picture, cropped what the dimensions were and pasted it in. Maybe add some text, a new backround (if you have a program with layers, use the wand tool to seperate the figure to its own layer, delete the white backround and have at 'er. Or if in paint, just make sure everything but the figure is white, and select it using the box tool (use the bottom option of the 2) and go from there) 3.) Once more, a little bland. Having a grey picture could come in handy, maybe a colored backround or something, bring the focus in. Basically follows comment #2 4.) This one is easily my favorite, the only problem being the text is a tiny bit hard to read, nothing really bad, just a bit. I like the quote and everything. Good job. So [b][u]Overall:[/u] [/b]I think that you have some minor issues to work on, but the banners, with a little more work promise to be some very good pieces of work. A neat trick is to make the backround transparent (or close, such as mine, doesnt work quite right on both color schemes of O.B due to me using paint, which doesnt have a transparency, I had to print screen, cut and paste the grey.) Still looks good enough, so that could be something interesting to try. -Pawn [b]Edit: [i]I totally missed the comment where some are just backround, so just disregard any information that wouldnt pertain. My deepest apologies :sweat: [/i][/b]

I like the banner/avi set, but the backround on the banner doesnt quite to it for me. The images, though alot of them, dont seem squished or crowded. 8/10 EDIT: My avatar was just made by messing around, so it obviously sucks, hence the '...dont... ... ask...' (I'm insane)

Wow... First Off I'd like to say... wow. It is a little light, but that's probobly just because you used pencil. Are you ever going to try and color or finish it? I'd love to see the end result. I'd probobly have a new backround for my desktop! The detail is very nice, not overly done, just to the point where it seems... finished. I hope you finish the last bit (Wings, Left foot) once you regain ye old brain juice. I'll have to try working on each piece of the character as one entire piece. By the way, how big is the original? -Pawn

[b][url="http://www.elfwood.com/"]www.elfwood.com[/url][/b] is an excellent one. There is FARP (Fantasy Art Resource Project) there as well, which is an excellent source of knowlage. A nice comment system links to artists commenting on your art, and makes it very easy to get critique. I know a few more... not off the top of my head, but I would say elfwood is a number 1 choice. EDIT: Probobly just as easy to check out [url="http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=41758"][b]http://www.otakuboards.com/showthread.php?t=41758[/b][/url] and scroll down a little bit to my reply.

I dont have any pictures of that... but maybe you could try a google image search ([B][url]www.google.com[/url][/B] and click on images) and type in Rahxephon. [B][url]www.elfwood.com[/url] [/B] might have some in their fan-art section if it's still there (they've been changing it around a bit lately, though I dont visit very often). They have (or had) a search engine to browse through each part of their site, so that might take a little longer, but you could get some fanart of it. This one is for everyone who likes art in its many facets, be sure to check out FARP (Fantasy Art Resource Project) where people have contributed art on many, many topics. Be it airbrushing, inking, pencilling, sculpting, selling your art, knowing whats a good or bad deal or even how to get around artistic blocks, its all there. [B][url]http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/farp/?8459[/url][/B] is the FARP Link. The 5 sections are at the bottom, in blue. One is mainly for in-elfwood stuff, the elfwood survival guide. But the other 4 sections (Buisiness, Others, The writing, The art) should be of great use to everyone. I did a quick glance through google image's and found a bunch of rahxephon pictures, I just dont know who or what it/they are. Sorry I couldnt be of more help.

I did these in MS Paint, pixel by pixel, so I'd appreciate some critique and things I can change in the future to give better presentation, backrounds, placement etc. to future pictures. So please, anything you dont like or like would be very helpful for my future works. Obviously the smaller one was something I did in a short period of time at a friends house, whereas the larger one took me a few hours. Maybe 1-2 hours, give or take a half-hour. Large sword - Click on the thumbnail [CENTER][URL=http://img59.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img59&image=Sword1.png][IMG]http://img59.exs.cx/img59/1579/Sword1.th.png[/IMG][/URL][/CENTER] Small sword - [CENTER][IMG]http://img66.exs.cx/img66/8739/sword.png[/IMG][/CENTER] Thank's to anyone who answers and helps me improve my art skills (as lacking as they may be). -Pawn

A fellow Dragonlance reader! ^_^ I cant name off the books I've read of dragonlance (there's quite a few) because I only occasionally read the books in order. Amazing how the story can still come together when you read every one you can find, regardless if you have'nt read the first book out of 3, and your trying 2. They stick to the same backround events, so its very consistent. I'm not going to try and read -all- of them... there's a [B]Lot[/B] of them. I'll just read all I can get my paws on. [B]Favorite character(s):[/B] Tas (Who -doesnt- like Tas), Dhamon Grimwulf, And Rig Mer'Krel (I think thats his last name). [B]Reasons:[/B] Tas - He's just amazing. Gotta love how kender just steal without noticing, absolutely great. [B]Dhamon -[/B] His story just has so much turmoil, from within himself, and outside forces. That and he's an awesome fighter. [B]Rig -[/B] Throwing daggers is just cool, that and he's basically a pirate... sweet. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- I think I like the Dragonlance series because they didnt just pose a world that was totally unimaginable to start. But instead created a world and fleshed it out to the extreme, including minor battles, major battles, numerous apocolypic-like events etc. So eventually, they do seem realistic. Dragons are a fundamental part of many fantasy books, and as such were included. But they didnt stop there, they gave a reason why Draconians exist, and numerous types of Draconians. Little things like the history behind a creature, without taking up a chapter really make the books fun to read. If you like the Dragonlance series, Try and pick up 'Pawn of Prophecy' by David Eddings, of the 'Belgariad' series. Those remind me somewhat of Dragonlance as the characters are very fleshed out, and the world is amazing. And the hero isnt some wounderful sword-wielding character to begin with. But instead gives a wounderful view of farm-like, and events unfolding until the quest(s) begin. Read it! -Pawn

Hey, I use MS Paint all the time, I love the challenge it gives. Layers are fun too, but you can replicate most options with Paintshop Pro/Photoshop if you do it right. Simple effects arent too hard, the more advanced filters and stuff would be insanely hard, but probobly still do-able. I've never been able to draw images unless they are pixel by pixel. So I love how it looks hand-drawn (on a computer, that is). -Pawn

I wasent sure if you wanted someone to give you a link so you can hotlink it to your banner or what, so I did. [IMG] [url]http://img53.exs.cx/img53/2559/sephxbanner.png[/url] [/IMG] And just take out the spaces. I have to agree with cinamon, it does look a little pixelly, did you shrink or stretch it? Good for a first time. I threw in a border around the outside so you can tell it from the rest of everything, just PM me if you dont want the border and I'll re-upload it.

[B][CENTER]Poem[/CENTER][/B] [CENTER]Tears mark their path across my soul, Betrayal of emotion of the world as a whole, For the skies darken now, hate gathers An evil storm is brewing, land and creature alike doomed.[/CENTER] -=-=-=-=- [B]Word:[/B] Pain