Christmas Cards Continued!

I  still have 9 more to do, but I don't in case my Christmas get crazy and I forget to update...

Christmas Cards!

So as a penniless artist, my friends and family have come to accept artwork in the pace of original gifts. I have decided this year to make digital Christmas cards as it would help me work on my Photoshop skills and sending something via email is cheaper than regular mail. With 14 left to do as of now I thought I'd share my progress:


My only trouble is coming up with something different for each person, ideally i get done 2 a day, which leaves enough time for me to get them all done without worry.

Recently Watched:
- anime Un-Go (I liked it)
- The Daily Show
- The Hobbit

What I'm thinking:
"Does this work as their card? ... sure...yes...yes it does."

Self-Body Alteration

Let me preface this with saying a few things. Firstly, I think girls with piercings and tattoos are kind of hot, that said there is a thing to be said for overdoing it. I do applaud those who have skin conditions that use tattoos as a solution to their problem.

Anyway, to my knowledge there are three major alterations one can do to oneself:

1)   Tattoos

2)   Piercings

3)   Hair Style

I am not including make-up or contacts for the simple reason that make-up is very temporary and can require constant care. Contacts also require a bit more care than hair (I know it is depending upon style, but I’ll elaborate further on). I feel that with make-up and contacts, it is not as permanent.

So hair, hair is the one of the three I’ve done…twice. When I was a freshmen I bleached half my head, and recently I gave myself a Mohawk…for Thanksgiving. I view it as the safest, easiest to do, and it can last fairly long depending on style. You can go hardcore with coloring your hair and have it last months, or get some temporary store colors that will last only a few days. Some hairstyles do require more maintenance than others (such as need for gel or spray) but even if you don’t bother too much, some styles are adaptable. Example: my Mohawk, even though I don’t gel it everyday (or…actually at all) it doesn’t change the fact that there is a strip of hair down the middle of my head that is more predominate than the sides. (Though now that I think about it, my Mohawk maybe more of a fohawk, but its still a derivative and in a few months I’ll need to cut my hair again so it rally doesn’t matter.) Finally, even a basic hair cut falls under this type of alteration. I know we usually don’t consider it as an expression unless it has color or some unique twirl or whatever, but all things being equal we all choose which way we want our hair done.

Now to piercings, I must admit to not having one, and while having friends that have them, it’s not that same. I have been thinking about piercings though, but whenever I look in the mirror and visualize it I just can’t imagine one that would work well for me. From talking with those who have various piercings, they are, while not as temporary as hair, can heal up. The time it takes one to heal is dependent upon the type of piercing. As far I know almost every part of the body can be pierced (the image of a person with “natural” chainmail armor, or something like a Kyton) with regards to places that ether don’t make any sense or that are too close to critical blood veins.

Finally tattoos, like piercings, I’ve considered “getting ink done” but they are with you forever. They also don’t take any upkeep after the first few days of getting then (letting them dry/heal, etc.) I’ve hung out with people who have tattoos with no reason, meaning, or story for it and those that do have a story for each one. If I did get one it would be the Blue Lantern symbol (it is supposed to represent the emotion of hope), my only reason for it is that, I like to think of myself as a hopeful person and believe the best in others even though that is a pretty naive stance to take. I don’t know where I’d put it, and I’m not sure if that’s a good enough reason for me to commit to one. While, in artistry I flip between: why do you need a pretentious sounding reason to justify your work? To: Is that the only reason you wanted to make this? I do regard tattoos as something you should have a good reason for, if only because your going to get questions on it for the rest of your life…unless you pay for the removal.

Once again I’d like to remind ye, that this is all based on my own ignorance and thoughts.

Podcasts I like to listen too:

The Nerdist

Smartest Man in the World (Greg Proops) – was listening to this one while typing

SModcast

The Morning Stream

What I’m Up To:

Making Christmas Cards

Working on a T-shirt design

Crashes and D&D

-->

So first thing first, I’m sorry that I didn’t update last week. Just as I got home from Thanksgiving vacation my hard drive crashed. Luckily I have friends among more tech savvy people and they were able to get me up and running in just a short time. The fix is also an upgrade actually, from 320GB to 500GB.

Anyway, Dungeons and Dragons… I got into D&D (version 3.5) during college, and I could honestly say that most of my friends here I met via joining D&D games with people I already knew. Now, I’ve played version 4 and my group on Sunday nights is doing the play test for the new version, but mostly many of my friends prefer 3.5. Besides ye olde D&D, I play Serenity (which I think goes by Cortex now I think), Mutants and Masterminds, and I’ve tried Warhammer 40k (which…I’m not totally sold on the system).

I’ve Dungeon Mastered a few games myself too, mainly Mutants and Masterminds as I was the most into comic books with my old group. But the style of DMing I grew around was that of story telling. Now, I known some prefer dungeon crawls, and I’ve heard others like to go by a hardcore old school style. I’m used to having a world and a goal that unfolds like a story. I feel that it pushes people to engage in role-play as characters to flush out the world around them. The more they role-play and grow their character the more that side missions and task can be altered to ensure a more rewarding experience. At times, as a DM, I’ve made decisions to keep my players alive and in the story (like, not sending another wave of enemies or ignoring some creature abilities to keep them relatively even).

With dungeon crawling, well its good practice. I find it useful for experimenting with new classes and techniques that you might not, but with no real goal or character investment there seems hardly to be a point to rping. I hesitate the same about the hardcore style but only for the reason I could say is that, with the more hardcore play where traps are a plenty and saving throws are few, rerolling a character every few sessions could nip it in the butt. Then again really experienced and talented player maybe able get over the crutch.

As a side note, when I play with my friends online we use Google hangout, but we might try Roll20 (http://roll20.net/) as I’ve heard some good things.

What Am I Thinking:

“I need to get to work on making my Christmas gifts…”

What I Am Doing:

Watching Firefly