sikaurai

I do like character development . . . and artwork is right up there on my list of preferences. I like Cowboy Bebop because it has a distinct "atmosphere" to the whole series. And Samurai7 was absolutely beautiful. The animation was a little shoddy at times in the series, but it more than made up for it with well-orchaestrated combat scenes. What I absolutely CAN'T stand is ridiculous attempts at comedy, and stupid little sidekick characters. If a show is meant to be serious, then let it be serious without worrying about the viewer being bogged down or inundated by plot intensity; characters like talking fleas and sprites in red boots just make me frown and pound the FF button. . . And I hate to say this . . . and I mean, I REALLY hate to say this . . . but girls in school uniforms is gettin' kind of cliche, too.

Mine's pretty boring, but I always put in my 2-cents . . . "sikaurai" is the name of one of two Azsynthian races in my book "War of the Realms"--an 800-page endeavor that's slowly consuming my life--but hey, at least I'm in the process of working out a royalites contract. *whine* My character Sascha is a sikaurai warrior priest, and I'm secretly in love with him. Oops, guess my secret's out.

[QUOTE=Ezekiel][SIZE=1] I use Paint Shop Pro 9 (X is available now, I believe), and that's all I ever want to stick with. It's a helluva lot cheaper than Photoshop and, as far as I can tell from my Photoshopping days, only misses a few things that Photoshop has. (Extra filters, gradients, and more text options). However, if you're patient, you can replicate most desirable effects using Paint Shop. If you do go for it and want any help, feel free to ask me. =)[/SIZE][/QUOTE] I have a free accessory program Paint Shop, and I hope it's not the same thing. I would like a program that would allow me to superimpose my pencil sketches, and then slap some color and digital shading into it. The reason is, I have a very shaky hand, and if anyone ever noticed the pencil strokes in my line-art, they are short and fine. My paintshop doesn't let me color in scanned pics; it only allows to create lines with a mouse, and I'm not talented enough for that. I'm inspired by your input, however; I'm gonna have to research this. . .

[QUOTE=Dagger]Not to go off on a crazy insect-slaying tangent here, but snails are fairly similar to slugs, right? *waits to be shot down* Pretty sure . . . but I eat snails every chance I get, with garlic and butter sauce. It doesn't sound as appetizing when you say "slug". Anyway. . . inventions . . . my favorite invention is the portable keyboard. It means I can do two things at once, and it keeps my kids from accidentally putting their two cents worth in on my work. . . Disposable diapers! I like disposable diapers! And to all you tree-huggers out there, they ARE biodegradable. LEt's see how you like cloth diapers after your kid eats a double-helping of split-pea soup with apple juice. . .

Okay, I'm reading the fight between you two, and I've just realized that I've had my hand over my mouth for the last two minutes. I'm a straight female, with quite a long, sad, regrettable history. I know quite a few homosexuals, and almost as many bisexuals. I'm opening myself up for arguments, here, but I think sex--scientifically speaking--is insert tab a into slot b (imagine your own slot here, I guess), and it involves some kind of intimate act between two (or more) people in the privacy (or not) of the bedroom, and someone inevitably comes to orgasm (but not always). . . and oh, god, now I'm just confused. I'll just have to come back and see everything resolves itself. In the meantime, I'm gonna go call my lesbian friend and see how she defines sex and maybe we'll go back and check wikipedia, too, 'cuz even after two kids, I still don't know what the definition of "sex" is. . . maybe it's just something fun to do on a rainy day, 'cuz I'm outta chocolate.

Yes, I have many questions about graphics and media, as far as art is concerned. I have been hailed as a prodigy, so to speak, by my circle back home. And art is really all my feeble mind is capable of comprehending. The software aspect, however, is confusing to me, and I've never been educated in the concept of art-technology. I'm finding posts like these very helpful, because I'm kind of embarrassed to ask other Otakuites how they achieve such professional results in their art. For instance, what exactly is GIMP, and how do you obtain it? And as for Photoshop, I heard that it is a very hard program to master. . . is there such a thing as an online tutorial? Trial and error, on such an expensive software package, would be kind of frustrating, wouldn't it?

(. . . A Tubal Ligation (am I spelling that correctly?) is more evasive and actually more dangerous than a vasectomy. Plus I believe it's more expensive and requires more recovery time than a vasectomy. But hey you and your non existant wife can go ahead and make that discision. And somehow I have a feeling you won't ever be in such a position. From what I understand doctors will only do either a tubal ligation or vasectomy in extreme cases of younger men and women. There's also an opporation (The name escapes me at the moment) that removes the female reproductive organs (or maybe it was just the uterus), but that's also only in extreme cases. My aunt had it right after my cousin was born because her's was quite literally falling out. But other than major cases the doctor will probably just tell you to use condoms and birth control. . . ) Sikaurai replies: Yeah, I had a hysterectomy after my doc discovered dangerous tumors. I was fine with that, because I already have two kids. (and I love them dearly) My ex-boyfriend opted for a vasectomy at 24 years of age, because he didn't want to have to explain to a child down the road in the future that he/she was a mistake, and he never wanted said child. Together, we were sterile, and had the best times. As for sex ed. . . well, it was very scientific in our classroom, and with that said, a lot of our classmates went out and did their own field study. . .

A thread on puking? That's awesome! Hey, here's one: I went to a Switchblade Symphony concert in Milwaukee and missed the entire show because--I suspect--somebody put something in the ONE drink that I ordered. I spent the entire evening in the bathroom, wallowing in a pool of my own vomit, too exhausted to pick my head out of the puddle. Finally, one courageous drag queen climbed over the side of the stall and lifted me out of my own sick by my hair. That was years ago, and I'm still trying to live it down. . .but I still like Switchblade Symphony.

I would have to say my two best friends, Bill and Aaron. They have been with me through thick and thin, fair weather and rocky storms. And they tolerate my insanely obsessive endeavors with good humor and saintly patience. Aaron is my assigned editor, and Bill is my rock. When I returned home from major surgery, Aaron endangered my health by getting me drunk on soy-milk white russians. And I had never been so touched. And when I needed a last minute babysitter for my ADHD-stricken daughter, Aaron actually volunteered for the job. (Brave soul!) And when my husband left me, Bill threw the best celebration party for me. . . What can I say? With good friends, anyone can achieve anything, and go anywhere. And with that said, Bill, can I have a loan? I'll pay you back next Tuesday. . .

Heheh! They say that first impressions are everything! Humans are very visual creatures. Most of my friends are metropolitan clubbers, mostly homosexuals, who converse gaily with their friends about very superficial themes--hair, fashion, gossip, whose sleeping with whom. . . etc. Superficial, however, doesn't mean evil. THey are very honest about their superficiality. Gotta admire that. (And I've been told numerous times when my hair is less than perfect, or when my deodorant is on the verge of the fail mark, and yet, I am still graced by their presence.) Superficiality, to me, however, is the point when a human being is too tired and lazy to keep up the pretense at altruism. Let's face it--most humans are not unconditional lovers. Some people just take it to a higher extreme than others.

Yikes! Mine was very similar. . . I have two, actually. BUt the first one involved a very good friend asking me for advice on saving face. I offered very sage advice, followed by witty repartee, and then followed it up by turning around and walking into an open car door, practically jack-knifing over the edge! The second time involved me passing my driver's exam road test--just barely--and then throwing up in the ashtray when the instructor motioned me inside the building. . .

Okay, I saw the two links that you submitted. They were pencil sketches, and from what I saw, you have potential. What media do you normally use? According to what I've seen so far on theOtaku, a majority of the young talent out there are utlizing wacom/photoshop/illustrator, and the likes. (I, myself, have been heralded back home as a prodigy of sorts, but I use only colored pencils. And compared to a lot of what I've seen, my pieces are kind of sad.) With that said, don't compare your work to others. Don't engage in rivalry as far as art goes. If you have the art bug, go with it, use it, improve it if you feel you must. Your sketches are nice. You should post more so the others can get a better feel for your work. . . good luck. I wish you well on your endeavors, and maybe I can see more of your work. I'd like that.

well, I would say Samurai 7, except that I'm VERY proud of my love for the show, even though it's not very popular. Um, my guilty pleasure would be (sigh) yes, Inuyasha. My friends make fun of me for being loyal to the show, even though the episodes are just spiraling into anti-climactic cavorting on an inconceivable level. But also, I know a lot of people would make fun of more for saying OBAN STAR-RACERS--I think it's great, and I like the characters, even though I had someone say to me yesterday that Oban is only one step above Disney.

the scary thing is. . . i do dream anime, and quite often. the dreams are vivid, and the characters are recurring. it's those damn "war of the realms" characters from that book that we're working on. . . and the scenes and backdrop are so real, i wake up kinda freaked, sometimes. i had a joke conversation with a friend in a bar, once, kidding around that i was receiving signals from another dimension--or that i'm just schizo-affective. once, i had a dream that i was in Florida with Jiriaya from Naruto. . . and that character kinda bugs me. We were shopping for rice (?????) What brought THAT on?

Uh, oh. . . fox breed, tiger breed. . . it has potential, but um, i guess i would be biased to that opinion. crap. i already started out a book about two races: and wolf breeds were one of them. heh heh. they say that when you put a hundred monkeys in a room. . . but, anyway!!!!! I like the fact that you already have the history of the characters. . . when a character has depth, it makes the world that they live in so much easier to sink into. . . so good luck with this endeavor, and hey, I would be curious to see the accompanying art when you have it in place. I can't think of anything else intelligent to say about that. [COLOR=DeepSkyBlue][SIZE=1][INDENT][B]sikaurai[/B], it is completely unnecessary to quote the person you are responding to when your post is the very next one. Especially when the quote is more than twice as long as your post. ~indifference[/INDENT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

[quote name='AnimeHeroX']Usually an anime comes from the manga or from stylized short in a big magizine like new type or animeamerica. this transtion usually always works but their are a few rare cases where it doesn't work like BOBOBOBOBO that anime and manga suck. :flush:[/quote] (uh. . . BOBOBOBOBO. . .shudder) And of course, because I have one-track mind, let's not forget Samurai7, which did not involve a manga at all, neither before nor afterward . . . it was actually based off an old black-and-white movie produced by Akira Kurosawa, and it was waaaaaayyyy different than the new version.

. . . and i wholeheartedly agree. how long does the big search for the shards hafta go on? I like Inuyasha, as do some of my friends, but come on. Let's find some new conflict or send the troupe into retirement. they've earned it. . .