Sayonara, Milk Tea...

+ Donkey +

2011-11-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

We, some guys I met online, and me thought it would be funny to draw animals as ourselves... I ended up drawing a donkey... I don't even know why.. or why I even drawn it... meh...

+ King Jack - Lose it +

2011-10-20T03:05:00.000-07:00

Working song of the day. :D

+ Thought of You +

2011-10-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

I can not believe I forgot linking this video.
It is so pretty!

Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

+ MILKBAR - ACCIDENT +

2011-10-18T14:51:00.001-07:00

It's been a while since I linked any music here. Love this song. :D

+ Daft Punkish +

2011-09-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

Yup, A dude I know from DA proposed the idea of dressing up our characters as DaftPunk for our 'Halloween Mission'. I like DaftPunk (I only know their old stuff... no idea what they make now a days ) so I agreed. He made the sketch and will be drawing the right guy. Not finished yet but hey... it has been a long time since the last update.... ;P
I look forward to see his part. :D

Done with mine part... I seriously lack texturing skills... :\

+ Alfred J. Kwak +

2011-09-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

I love Alfred, as a kid it was one of the few shows my parents encouraged us to watch.
This duck just holds so many sweet memories. :)

+ Death and all his friends, The party +

2011-09-05T02:42:00.000-07:00

Since I need a break from the Almond Tree, but I do not want to sit still.
Silly short story, I plan to illustrate this thing.

Help me take out the grammar/spelling mistakes? as well as improving the story as an whole?
-or die a painful death -

-----

Death was sitting in his room, it was a rather empty room, but he did own a lot of books. One day he read a book which he liked very much. It talked about parties, birthday parties.

Death had never celebrated a birthday party, nor was he ever invited to one. "I will have one today" He decided. And so he got to work.

First he decorated his cave, it looked very pretty. After he was done he baked a cake and started to write invites. He sent one to the monster who lived down in a big cave, to the skeletons who lived in the graveyard, he even sent an invite to the strange creature that lived on the moon.

After all that was done, Death waited for his guests to arrive. He waited, and he waited, and then he got a little tired of waiting, so he slept for a little while. When he woke up still no one had come.

Death looked down on his freshly backed cake. 'Maybe my cake isn't big enough?"
Or maybe, they did not get the invites?

Standing up he decided to go and look for his friends. Maybe they got lost, or maybe they did not know how to read.

First he went down to the big cave. A loud voice thundered from the cave. "WHO IS IT?!" .."It is I, Death" Death answered. "MMMM SO YOU HAVE FINALLY COME TO TAKE ME HAVE YOU DEATH?!" The voice thundered back. Death lifted his little lantern a little higher. "Why yes, I wondered why you didn't come when I invited you, are you lost?"

"LOST?!" The voice now sounded much closer and out came the head of the monster "I JUST DON'T WISH FOR DEATH TO COME AND TAKE ME SO SOON!" "Oh.." Death lowered his lantern. "I am sorry for coming too early then, will you come later?" The monster laughed, "I WILL COME AFTER ANOTHER 1000 YEARS HAVE PASSED, THEN I SHALL COME." Then the monster went back into his cave and did not speak again. Death was happy that the Monster would come later, but he wanted to celebrate his birthday today. Maybe the skeletons would come.

When he arrived at the graveyard, the skeletons were all dancing and singing. "uhm… excuse me?" Death asked, but the skeletons just went on dancing. "hello?!" Death tried again. But they still did not hear him. He then lifted his lantern up high and waved it around. HELLO?!

The music was just too loud. It seemed the skeletons were too busy to come to his birthday, next he turned towards the moon.

But the moon-creature wasn't home, he found a note taped on the door.
"Gone on vacation, will be back in a couple of years."

Death put the note back and went home. Maybe today was just not a good day to celebrate a birthday, maybe no one liked to celebrate birthdays.But all he wanted was a birthday party like those in his books. With decorations and cake and lots of people.

He looked at his decorations, some had already fallen down, the candle on his cake had burned down. With a sigh he sat down.

Suddenly he noticed something.

There…

on a rock sat…

….a little girl

She waved at Death. "Hi" She spoke softly. Then she pointed towards the cake. "Is it your birthday today?" She asked. Death shook his head, "No, but I wanted a party like those in the books." The girl smiled. "I brought you a gift." She held out a pretty coloured box with a huge bow on it. Death accepted the gift, and shyly offered her a slice of the cake. She accepted it and started eating. She smiled at Death. "Happy Birthday Death.".

Maybe he didn't need the decorations, or the beautiful cake, or even lots of people. Maybe all he needed was someone to eat his cake with. Death smiled back and decided that this was hist best first birthday party he ever had.

+ Almond Tree : End of the Journey +

2011-08-26T05:24:00.000-07:00

With one of the last scenes rendering I will allow myself to write an uber quick update.
Only a couple days more until I have to give my final graduation presentation. I am not nervous yet, but I can feel it building up a bit more with each passing day.

Only 2 scenes left to render. It makes me happy as well as not being able to believe I finally reaching an 'end'.

I have been working on this project for so long now it only seems natural to wake up, drink some tea and have breakfast and then work another day on this.

I sure will have to get used to not doing the same ritual over and over again, after so long.

ah~ My render is done for now...
Just a few more steps to complete this journey. :)

+ Quick update +

2011-08-23T07:17:00.001-07:00

Its been awhile.. busy, busy, busy
Here are a few scribbles I did to relax in the weekend.

+ Neon Ranger +

2011-07-27T02:50:00.000-07:00

Oh might as well upload this one.
The group was full already but I managed to get a spot all the same. Pretty cool of the guys to try and fit me in regardless. Meet Louiss aka Neon Ranger.
Whenever the urge to smash my laptop against the wall becomes to much I just cool off doodeling some stuff for this group. It really is a nice relief.

+ Power Rangers +

2011-07-22T00:07:00.000-07:00

HA~ Got the perfect cure last night.
I was talking to this person, we have stupid conversations about nothing at all, and somehow stumbled up on the Power Rangers. (Yes we talk about stupid stuff)
And she decided to make a team with other people, giving out 'orders' like draw this etc.
So throwing all caution in the wind I decided to join.

It is just the kind of laid-back, doesn't matter what the quality is, kind of thing I need, to relax again in order to shake of the "oh-gods-can-not-draw" disease. hahaha

I didn't count upon the huuuuge mass of people wanting to join, so currently I am colourless. :O
Still it was a nice thing that I stumbled upon.

+ Its back +

2011-07-21T05:12:00.000-07:00

ugh I am having a bad case of the doubts today. I am once again scared to draw. :\

Darn, thought I beat this...

Good thing is I have a fair idea how to smack this down again. I think I will take a little break from the project (as in having the afternoon of) and just try to draw myself some silly things to shake of this stupid feeling. FFF I so can not deal with this now, NO TIME!

So here I go, wish me luck!

+ A FEW MORE!#@#!#! +

2011-07-20T03:33:00.000-07:00

Sooooo it has been a long time since I last ranted here, strange, or maybe not so strange considering the fact I have been just to busy to rant. Yeah, that is right I am as swamped as a bunny farmer. (makes no sense, please ignore that part) 29th of -July - AUGUST is the date of execution, so 'just' a few more weeks of pushing myself forward. That is right! JUST.....A.....FEW...MORE!

And just like that I am done ranting... mmm... odd...

+ Almond Tree : Hope +

2011-07-15T04:43:00.001-07:00

Yup.... slowly coming towards the end...

+ Bird sketches +

2011-07-07T12:15:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah! I forgot about these sketches.
My photoshop crashed before I could save but luckily I managed to make a quick screen-cap.
So not all is lost, just 99%.

+ Drawingzzzzz +

2011-07-06T11:24:00.000-07:00

Little something, something I have been sketching.
Needed a break from all the Isablla,Penny and Charles slides.

+ Kagrra, - Utakata +

2011-06-30T03:53:00.000-07:00

Kagrra, is always good to set a nice relaxing working-mood.
Too bad they disbanded. :|

+ Like a boss +

2011-06-29T12:47:00.000-07:00

My kitty is a true boss. She loves toothpaste, licking your hair after you have showered and rolling around in the sand. When I am all grown up I want to be just like her.

+ :D +

2011-06-24T10:37:00.001-07:00

This makes me rather happy today.

+ Sketch Dump +

2011-06-24T08:39:00.001-07:00

+ Our Game +

2011-06-22T13:10:00.000-07:00

Found an old-ish sketch on my laptop, I wanted to colour something, thus this was born.
Will finish it sometime....

+ Almond Tree : Seconds +

2011-06-22T03:35:00.001-07:00

+ Almond Tree : pre-plotting +

2011-06-14T02:37:00.000-07:00

No more wrist-pains, instead I got stuck with a fever (already beaten) and a manly voice. (still have that one)
I have some serious catching up to do!

+ Head +

2011-06-09T06:55:00.000-07:00

prrractice. Some messy line-art with a texture slapped on it. Almost looks decent now. :D

+ Mosquito Wrists +

2011-06-07T05:10:00.000-07:00

After "the evil internet defeat" I am back in the game. Working faster and longer really pays off.
My goal is to finish one scene each day, so the longer the scene the longer I work in Photoshop.

One mayor set back. It was and still is a great concept work-wise, however I really should think about planning more pauses in between work.

Thing is my wrist feels kind of messed up, I kind of twisted it the wrong way the other day.

It does not really hurt-hurt but the thing (read : right wrist) is as annoying as a mosquito keeping you awake at night. You can ignore the mosquito for quite some time, even swat at it lazily to try and get it away from you. However, after some time you always need to get out of your comfortable sleeping spot and either :

A) Kill it
B) Sleep somewhere else (not really an option to be honest I once tried sleeping on the floor.. yeah not one of my brightest ideas)
C) Open the window

or

Personally I like to go with option C since it only requires me to sleepily lift my hand, and push the window open. Unfortunately for me a wrist is not a mosquito.... okay that totally sounded wrong, I am very happy my wrist is not a bloodsucking annoyance. Its the simple solutions that are not available that are rather unfortunate. What are the option here you ask?

A) Stop working
B) Plan pauses
C) Ignore the wrist and keep working

Option A sounds like the most logical, but no can do sir! Stopping would mean a lapse back on the process both deadline and skill wise. I already established option C as not being that easy and seeing as I yet have to plan a pause to get dressed (it is getting close to 3 pm. already) I seem to fail option B as well.

Seems like I have only one option left.

Option D) Milk a cow

+ Ah~ evil Internet +

2011-06-05T23:57:00.000-07:00

I was looking for some ref. then the Internet told me "Hey you! Did you mean to watch this?" I replied quite polite (if I do say so myself) "No, thank you dear sir, I have got a ton of work to catch up on." However I should have known it would not be as easy at that, I fought bravely, tried to resist, but alas, I lost another magnificent fight.

So the Internet once again lured me into watching the great 何系でもないmeme. (Kind of old but still seems to amuse me)

Finally after about 15 min. I got some grip on my senses again and ripped myself away from its foul clutches. So yes, Internet, once again you have proven yourself a mighty foe. I will admit to your commands once more. I am such a weakling.

In my defence : I think it involved some foul play on the Internet's side.

To wrap this up in a little bit more productive mood.
Monday morning sketch. I have called her MinPei. (I honestly do not know why)

+ Almond Tree : Penny +

2011-05-27T06:37:00.001-07:00

Penny is still my no. 1 favourite :D
:O SHAME ON ME! I forgot the teddy-bear she is supposed to be holding here D:
Luckily I noticed it now

+ Practice +

2011-05-26T11:19:00.001-07:00

+ Almond Tree : Rest +

2011-05-20T01:24:00.000-07:00

+ Kid +

2011-05-19T02:17:00.000-07:00

+ Design +

2011-05-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

Just found out that Design is the ultimate Lets-get-a-happy-work-flow-album :)
Works even better then Heaven : the Customized Landscape album.
Although the side-effect is that I have this urge to watch the live DvD's, and/or draw random not project related crap,which is rather contra-work-flow... mmm need to resist the urge I guess.

Right, time to get me some more tea and work some more.

+ Almond Tree : Parental Love +

2011-05-16T05:02:00.000-07:00

Isabella looks like she has got a soul D:
(nah she does have one... sometimes)

+ Polysics - I my me mine +

2011-05-05T03:18:00.000-07:00

Strong machine 2 (aka the little girl) is just sick :o
btw... believe it or not, the lyrics are entirely English
(took me quite some time to understand them all)

+ Location07 aka Began to run there +

2011-04-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

some free work ...

+ Back again... +

2011-04-27T07:38:00.000-07:00

So I had a -minor- setback, my laptop died on me :|
Luckily it could be revived, made me realize I should make a backup (did that already)
It were a few days of hoping and wishing nothing would get lost,
which luckily did not happen. Also to my surprise the apple care I had bought finally was/is registered on the right laptop. Was about time too, took me more then 5 months to get them to understand the problem.

So now I guess I am back on track (if not delayed) with the project.

+ Almond Tree : Sneaking +

2011-04-18T05:13:00.000-07:00

+ Three young Coots +

2011-04-18T00:24:00.000-07:00

Things have been and still are going up and down in a mad frenzy D:
With days I spew out >10 slides a day to days I spent staring ahead wondering how I can ever finish this all. Also my health has again taken the shape of a disobeying yo-yo. Very annoying to say the least.

Still... I get happy when I see what I already achieved so far, including the 'approval' of my grandfather hahaha. Up till now he has been telling me
"Girl! You are wasting your time you know?" So when he suddenly started from this to.. "Well, that looks rather good" I was a bit startled xD

oh! Also! The other day I saw three young coots! I had been watching their nest closely for a few weeks already, in the morning she was still just sitting there keeping her eggs warm, but when I came back in the afternoon I could see 3 red heads peeking out!
So adorable... I hate the fact that I can't go over and cuddle them. I hope all 3 of them (or maybe there are more she was really protective) will grow up without being eaten. (I saw that last year, not a pretty sight.. stupid seagull)

+ ... +

2011-04-13T05:37:00.000-07:00

Mmmmm finally bought me some new music, will prop. get here within 2-3 weeks. That is kind of a bummer but I will life. Meanwhile I am on a 'quest' to listen to every album in my Itunes. "Only' got about 100 more left. I almost forgot about some songs :O Sometimes I think I have too much, but I just not can make myself delete them ._.

So I will continue listening to my list and wait for more music to come :)

+ Soy un Perdedor +

2011-04-12T03:52:00.001-07:00

Love that song

+ Vocaloid - Remote Control +

2011-04-10T11:54:00.001-07:00

Once again, I got addicted to such a song OTL

+ Almond Tree : Slide Charles +

2011-04-04T05:54:00.000-07:00

I love to draw this dude :D

+ Almond Tree : Charles Introductions +

2011-04-04T03:11:00.001-07:00

Pick him up? You decide! :B

+ Ant +

2011-03-30T04:10:00.000-07:00

What can I say, I like ants :B

+ Almond Tree : These Days +

2011-03-28T06:44:00.000-07:00

+ Flight +

2011-03-24T09:43:00.000-07:00

It seems I like flying creatures

+ rawr +

2011-03-16T09:16:00.001-07:00

Fear me!

+ Almond Tree : Tree-hugger +

2011-03-14T05:48:00.000-07:00

For all you tree-huggers out there

+ Lizard +

2011-03-10T02:13:00.001-08:00

+ Free Fall +

2011-03-09T01:43:00.001-08:00

+ Journey +

2011-03-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

rawr?

+ Almond Tree : Slide 'in-game' +

2011-03-03T08:29:00.000-08:00

This is how the rest of the story will look like :3
Antonia is reading to her fictional newborn but gets busted
(or close to getting busted at least ;)

What do you guys think?

+ Flying Rhino's +

2011-03-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

I dreamt of flying rhino's the other night (yes I know random)

+ Lock +

2011-03-01T06:50:00.001-08:00

same char. as the one in my old blogtitle.. just revised... wanted to do something with colour...
was done a week ago but I still had to colour the boots lolz

+ Almond Tree : Slide +

2011-02-28T03:31:00.001-08:00

One of the slides for the introduction

+ Freak Like Me +

2011-02-24T06:50:00.001-08:00

I watched the small documentary "Freak like me" a highly amusing program about small,weird,crazy and absurd habits people have. Habits like spending 8-10 hours a week washing one's car, separating all their food (and that does mean ALL food) and other odd quirks people have. They were all collected and brought into this program by a British stand-up comedian who has his own dose of odd little habits. Such as laying out his clothes the night before in a specific order, programming the coffee-machine or sniffing new books in the park.

It makes your realize that every single persons has got a few habits that are considered odd.
As for me I can go crazy if I see the table set up in the wrong order,especially when people switch their forks and knifes on the wrong side of their plates or turning the blade of the knife away from the plate. I can not help myself but to quickly correct it when no one is watching. (although I get caught once or twice) I also dislike when one does not have a neat music list xD

My own Itunes is properly labelled, artist by artist, album by album and single by single. Up to the album covers. My sister does not label, has got a massive heap of 'broken' songs in her list etc. I get itching every time I set my eyes upon it, but knowing she will not appreciate my intense labelling (and telling her to label her new imports as well, this is very important) I just turn away whenever I see it xD

To watch the program go here -> FREAK LIKE ME

Well back to work for me!

+ Almond Tree : sheet Jacob +

2011-02-22T01:43:00.000-08:00

+ Almond Tree : sheet Isabella +

2011-02-21T08:20:00.001-08:00

I kind of like Isabella...
maybe it is because she is the one with the most fun expressions to draw

+ Almond Tree : sheet Antonia +

2011-02-18T09:23:00.001-08:00

Wife no.1 Antonia does not get a happy end :(

+ Almond Tree : sheet Charles +

2011-02-17T06:07:00.000-08:00

Charles :D
Settled for the raven or crow (kind of a combo) bird form as these birds
are one of the most common birds to be used in the old fairy tales.

Fun Fact :
Did you know that birds are the symbolic form of the soul of children or
innocent men in the old fairy tales?

+ Almond Tree : sheet Penelope +

2011-02-16T06:29:00.000-08:00

Finally sheet Penelope, also bird concept for Penelope

+ The Cave +

2011-02-14T03:32:00.001-08:00

"SO..." thundered the voice
"YOU FINALLY CAME FOR ME THEN, DEATH?"

"Ye-yes" Stammered Death "I did not know you had invited me though...."

+ Death and all his friends +

2011-02-10T13:26:00.001-08:00

In fact Death was very lonely
He asked himself :
"Why did no one came after I send them an invitation?
...Maybe my cake is not big enough..."

+ Dreams long lost +

2011-02-09T06:29:00.001-08:00

Something not Almond Tree related....

A couple of weeks/months ago someone told me their dream of what they wanted to be, it made me think about what I had wanted to be long ago and I could not remember. But one day I had a conversation about the storybooks we read as a child and I remembered, I wanted to draw for children's picture-books. Somewhere deep inside me I still want this, however I am not convinced I got what it takes, so I made a decision, I will continue drawing my own stories, and who knows one day I can live the old dream again.

I had a lot of fun with this, it made me feel happier doing this then anything I have been up to these last years :)
So thank you person for telling me your dream and making me remember mine, I guess you know who I am talking of (and if not well I guess that does not matter much as well xD)

+ Almond Tree : short update +

2011-02-07T01:07:00.000-08:00

Such a long time since I last updated D: the horror
Okay so lets see, still working my ass off to complete the storyboard
it is taking much longer then I would have liked :|
Of course I did not make it easier with all the split off's in the storyline
(dang I really am good at over complicating things, not always a good thing)

Right now I am at the point of the oh so emotion filled burial (aka dumping the body)
Isabella is one mean bitch, well in this storyline I am working out. Penelope on the other hand is really growing on me, also she is the easiest to portray, might be a connection there...
Well Charles is fun to draw as well, but now that he is stuffed in a bag there is not much left of him to draw xD (sorry boy, I probably should have picked the story in which you live a little happier, oh well)

In other news, I played the old DOS game of Monkey Island again :D Brought back some memories, the first time I played the game I could not read that much English, so even though I liked the game, I never quite understood half of it (make that most of it) Guybrush will always be the no. 1 mighty pirate xD

Well I am off to my own big adventure (bigger then growing moustaches that is) namely finishing this blasted storyboard!

+ PaTaPon +

2011-02-03T00:45:00.001-08:00

This makes me happy :D

+ Almond Tree : storyboarding +

2011-01-14T02:29:00.000-08:00

Edit edit : Drawing him death proved to be even harder :|

Edit : Killed him :( that was so hard I struggled way too long, now things should be going easier until I meet up with the endings :|

Storyboarding is going quite well, it sometimes is very hard because I tend to over think things
make them more complicated than they should be, but once I manage to shake that off a little bit it goes rather well :)

Although it is getting harder and harder to have to kill certain characters.
They have grown on me, and killing them is rather harsh and sometimes I want to change the storyline just to keep them alive. But then again keeping them alive will end the story, no not end it, there will be no story any more xD

So Charles, I am so sorry, I love you to bits, but I am going off to kill you now :(
Don't fret though, you will live again :)

Music Rant, feel free to ignore

2011-01-07T04:10:00.001-08:00

Edit : got both albums in the mail the other day, pure L O V E and it was only 25 euro!
Link

Just ordered the two albums of Kwoon since I think I have been leeching of the 'pirate copies' far too long now, after all it is music that is worth its money.

I never really know why people insist in
a) Buying everything
or
b) pirating everything

I like to split them a little
a) pirate on stuff you are not sure about and decide later if it is worth the money
b) buy if you know an artist is awesome(or has potential) buy the stuff and allow yourself to get surprised

Strangely people think that buying music is a waste of your money, and in most cases I agree with them, there is a lot of crap on the market, so yes you should do some research before hand

Like what kind of music do you really like, like stuff you can listen to even if you have a migraine. Stuff like that is not a waste of money

Anyway, I will go back to storyboarding, meanwhile waiting for my 'new' music to arrive :)

+ Kwoon - I Lived on the Moon +

2011-01-05T03:05:00.000-08:00

I don't think I ever shared this one with you guys
Kwoon makes lovely music, almost poetical and this one video clip they have
(I could never found another clip but correct me if I am wrong)
is also beautifully made, full of dreams and fantasy
Enjoy...

+ of Fish and Paper +

2010-12-29T03:31:00.000-08:00

So Christmas is over (spend most of it staring ahead of me xD)
it was fun though

also I finally think I have 90% health again (for 100% I think I need another 3-4 days)
So now I can also finally start working on my storyboard again, as it felt my head would explode if I bend it forward, but that is gone now :D

Also my brother put his fish-tank downstairs, it is very addictive to just stare hours at those fishies o_o I might even go as far as saying it is better then internet, it beats television easily :D

Now I should go and search for some paper and pencils, I hope I am still able to draw :|

+ Dreams FTW +

2010-12-16T00:55:00.000-08:00

I am finally having awesome dreams again :D
for some reason I was only having A) lame dreams or B) could not remember them :\
so the other night my dream started off as a very lame one, what is lame you ask?
I will tell you D:

There was this person looking out of the window,
outside the window where a couple of lanterns and some bushes

and that was it! so yeah this was the typical lame dream I have had lots of these last few weeks :\
also note that almost always, it is not me in the dream but some kind of person who I seem to observe from either behind or from the front :\

but then! yay awesome dream started!

Suddenly crows came in waves crashing against the window, and as I say wave, I mean a wave they just splashed against the window, flew back up and came in crashing again. It was very magical to say the least xD also a bit scary at first
Then the crows, who had been pitch black till that point, started to change colours, somehow like a rainbow. Making the wave of crows even cooler :D

The person that had been standing by the window suddenly turned around because someone entered. It was not a good person, he was scary as hell D: But luckily for me I knew I was dreaming so he disappeared again, and instead came another person who was pretty awesome.
That guy looked like some kind of RPG wizard,with the hat and all that stuff, so the person that had stood by the window asked him "This is a dream right?" The wizard guy said that yes this was a dream. and the other person answered with "awesome! so I can do anything right?"

And then all kinds of strange yet awesome things happen
like this dough, that was shaped as a round bread suddenly got small feet and started walking around, colours that came raining from the sky, even more crows etc.

Then the person walked up to the wizard guy and said:"Okay this is cool! I really can do all this stuff! So when I tell you, you have an city of ants in your pocket it will be there right?"

and the person yanked back the fabric of the pocket, and there was an awesome city in which ants lived, with skyscrapers and all that stuff (but made out of dirt of-course )

then I woke up :(

this night my dream was more random stuff, mostly about the Almond Tree, which gave me some great ideas for the intro shots :D

ah~ I love dreaming :)

+ Almond Tree : Antonia +

2010-12-14T05:57:00.000-08:00

one of the first sketches of Antonia, the depressed childless mom :|
although here she seems not that depressed yet,,,
mmm must be a bit before the story takes part then ;)

+ Almond Tree : Bird +

2010-12-08T06:40:00.001-08:00

so today was a bit of a down day :| BUT I managed to pick a singing bird I like :D
I wanted something small and almost round like, since I always imaged this kind of bird for the story when I was a kid so I wanted to keep that one in
with all the editing to the story it really feels like my own, instead of the Grimm brothers ^^
its makes me smile a little

(first quick sketch )

anyway back on topic
the bird I picked is a mix of birds to be honest
I liked the colour-pattern of the suberb wren
but gave him the proportions that comes closer to the blue tit and wren combined

For his other bird form I have yet to decide
I am pretty much tied between the Sparrow-hawk and the Kestrel
I am leaning a bit towards the Kestrel simply because I like his streamlined look more

I am feeling like I am crawling rather then taking babysteps in this project
but like a wise man once said:

"It does not matter how slow you go as long as you do not stop"

+ Almond Tree : Update +

2010-12-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

First Ending is completely polished now :D
I need to step it up though and finish the others ASAP D:

Also! I made the first rough sketches of Antonia (the first woman of Jacob)
She still needs a lot of adjustments but at least I got a start
I figured Antonia would also be beautiful but will have a lot more class

She probably will also have green eyes, a reason for Jacob to fall in love with his second wife ;P

And third I started storyboarding, still very sketchy and awkward, but a start is a start none the less ;)

+ Caro Emerald :D +

2010-12-06T04:41:00.000-08:00

Just something that makes me happy :D

+ Almond Tree : Story finalized! (as good as anyway) +

2010-12-03T10:37:00.000-08:00

currently typing up the last final parts of the Almond Tree story,
I decided not to post the last parts here,
since it kind of spoils the outcome and then no-one would be surprised when exactly seeing the whole thing hahaha

Currently writing some more death scenes
I love writing death scenes, it makes me happy
(Is totally not crazy I swear)

Anyway, with that out of the way no more story updates but I am starting on my storyboard so the story will finally get a face (I hope )

With that being said, if any one feels up to correct my mistakes I made in English or just plain give their view on the story, feel welcome to comment :D
I can always use some good advice

And now I am off again to finish this death scene, well more like wrap it up ;)

+ Almond Tree : Charles/Penelope/Isabella +

2010-11-30T06:37:00.000-08:00

Tried them with out the lineart, Rather like it, not sure if I will keep them with our without lines
At least I like Isabella her face more :D

Music Rant : Adapter。and ANGELO

2010-11-26T02:12:00.000-08:00

Its been ages since my last music rant it seems D:
So here we go :DDD

I might have only bought 2 cds these last weeks but they are golden

First up!
Adapter。

(Rather plain cd-case but hey its a single I forgive them )

Ever since Metronome went on hiatus (aka long break which will probably end in a break-up)
Fukusuke seems to have to0 much free time, not that I am complaining in the least ;)
僕のLIFE is a very nice single indeed ^^ I think it might even evolve into one of my favourite songs of Adapter。I think I might have abused the repeat button a bit too much
Ah~ Fukusuke you are once again making the music I love you for <3

But unfortuanly for Adapter。 I also got the new album of Angelo *_*
So sadly for Fukusuke, but luckily for Kirito, that is what is on repeat the entire day (I wonder if I have driven my brother/sister crazy with it yet)

(Epic cd case is epic, its a double case which you can flip open to both sides)

the album DESIGN of Angelo is filled with epic nice songs such as El Dorado, Design of Infinite Circle, 光の記憶, EVE, 螺旋, Lotus Bloom etc.

To be frank I love every single song to death! Not that surprising since it seems to me that Kirito brought Pierrot back to life with this epic album, and we all know that Pierrot is my ultimate supreme most loved band to exists in the history of music! (Although Muse comes in on close second )
But he is also still keeping this new Angelo good in check with more lighter music, instead of the dark undertones most of the Pierrot songs had/have.

Also where Adapter。album art is rather plain, Design is a wonderful booklet album
with a booklet with the lyrics (naturally) and a booklet with life photographs, since I got the epic album with the live DVD of the Inter Play Members LIMITED SHOW 2010 :D

It is always fun to see them play live ^^
Takeo still shouts along all the lyrics of every song
Kotha still flips everyone off on every occasion he gets
And how Kirito manages to huss everyone with a simpel handgesture (there where quite a lot of people/fangirls screaming and shouting) is always amazing

plus Kirito's "sexy" dancing always amuses me xD, it is 120% FUn and not even 1% sexy xD
(Sorry Kirito you are amazing but you fail at that part xD)
I would love to show you guys, but the dvd is no where to be found on the interwebz yet
So lets just say he dances like a girl which is in totally conflict with his 'dictator' act ;)

So yes, maybe not that much cd's but epic none the less :D

+ Almond Tree : Penelope Speed +

2010-11-22T06:08:00.001-08:00

+ Almond Tree : Charles v 3? +

2010-11-13T05:53:00.000-08:00

Charles! I am quite liking this version :D mmm yes this one will probably stay :D

+ Almond Tree : minor update +

2010-11-12T05:00:00.001-08:00

Yo~ I am now 80% sure about both the endings for the Almond Tree
They might twist here and there but most of it will hold right now
The strange thing is both endings are totally different then what I had in mind when I first started this project. But it seems that yet again, the project took a life of his own and I became the puppet instead of the puppeteer.

Not that, that is a bad thing ;)

So with that 'out of the way', although not entirely I still have to detail it out and give it more soul,
I can focus more on the design of the characters once more
Penelope will probably stay mostly unchanged, perhaps a few minor changes in her proportions
to fit the others, Isabella will most probably take get a makeover once more, but I will leave her alone for a bit and focus on Charles instead, I also need to start on thinking about his bird form.

note to self : find more ref. pictures from birds and decide which way to go with this

+ Almond Tree : Part 7 Underneath the Moonlit Sky +

2010-11-02T04:11:00.000-07:00

It was dark. That was the first thing that came to mind when Charles woke up. It not only was dark but it also was cold outside, a small shiver racked his small frame in an attempt to get a little warmer. Charles heard some rustling, but it was not the rustling of clothes that meet his ears, instead it sounded oddly like bird feathers. He slowly opened his eyes, leaves seemed to surround him. That was rather odd but not quite uncommon, it happened more then once that he woke up laying under or in his beloved Almond Tree. It seemed that even after all these years the old tree was the only place he felt comfortable, like he was meant to be there and only there. However something seemed a little off, it seemed he was much higher up the tree then he normally went.

Charles yawned a little, he probably should go back home now, it was dark and the moon was already out. He went to push himself up with his arms when he realized he couldn't. Somehow he could not quite reach the branch he was sitting on, in fact the branch he was sitting on seemed far too slim for it to carry him. He knew this should scare him or at least made him worried but he felt at ease, relaxed even. He raised his arm to scratch his cheek, but instead saw a small talon reach up. He jumped back in fright it was when he started to pummel towards the ground he realized his mistake. He was still up in the tree, high up in the tree, he would hit the ground hard, so hard it would probably not end well. He closed his eyes and franticly tried to grab for anything. He suddenly seemed to stop falling, in fact he seemed to be floating, an odd flapping noise surrounded him.

Carefully he opened first one eye and then the other. Small feather wings clapped up and down beside him. When he looked to his right he saw a small wing flapping up and down. Wide eyed he followed the wing up, it was connected to a small feathered body, small talons where tucked up to keep them from getting in the way. He tried to wiggle his toes and saw that one of the small talons wiggled as well.

Slowly realisation dawned upon him, those talons where his, as well as the set of wings. He tried not to panic but it was hard to press it down. He was a......bird? no way! No way this could be right? right?
In his panic he stopped moving his arms/wings? and started plummeting down again As in instanct he moved them again and stayed afloat only a couple of feet above the ground.

Beneath the tree was a small puddle Charles looked down and saw his reflection. A small golden brown bird hovered a few feet above it. His small beady eyes reflected the moon light. He was this, how odd as it sounded, he was a bird. He had no idea how, but he was. Charles slowly flew down and tried to wrap his head around this all.

Okay so he was a bird, he somehow turned into a bird and here he was outside, sitting in front of a puddle, and he was a bird. But how?

Isabella!

The flashback sprang at him so fast it seemed as he was shot. Isabella had asked him to help her, and although he felt suspicious he had agreed to go with her. When he picked up the apple the lid slammed down. After that he only remembered a sharp pain and then darkness.

Charles gasped for breath, which seemed rather odd now that he was in his bird body.So what had happened, did he die? And if so why did he wake up as a bird. It did not seem to make any sense, but he knew one thing, Isabella was going to pay for what she had done to him.

It was night, the moon stood high in the sky, under an old tree a puddle sparkled in the moonlight, next to it sat a little bird, its eyes glistering dangerously.

+ Almond Tree : Isabella +

2010-11-02T01:06:00.000-07:00

Second attempt at Isabella
keywords for her where/are :

- Persistent
- Fragile
- Cunning
- Possessive
- Vain

P.s. I probably should lose some of the ribbons hahha went a little overboard with those xD

+ Art and Shocking events +

2010-11-01T07:15:00.001-07:00

After some eventful days I finally am back on track with my project.
This Friday I went to Amsterdam to visit 2 art expositions
1 I was looking forward to and the other I had no idea what to expect

The first exposition I went to was called Beeldhalwerk which consisted of a bunch of sculpture artists. It was stunning to say the least. The location was always very cool, an old freaking huge fabric hall :O

Just look at the size of that thing :O

one of my favourite works there xD

After that I went to the other exposition, the one that I had no idea what to expect
to say I was disappointed does not even come close
it was madness...
The whole exposition was focused on selling and selling a lot
so there where lots of people and lots of 'art'
I think their where over 300+ pieces of art stashed there and only 3-4 caught my interest
It was more of a sell-out then real art IMO

After that we went to grab a bite to eat in the most cutest place ever
a very small cafe which had place for 20-25 people tops where I had the best sandwich ever! :D

When I got back that evening I was death tired, I thought of having a cup of tea and then go to sleep. However it went all a little different then planned.
My sister called us in panic that her husband had cut himself with a broken plate and that the ambulance was on its way. My father went out as quick as he could to join them well I tried to keep my sister as calm as I could, luckily she did all the right things (binding of his arm with a belt and calling the ambulance right after that)
My father then called that he went to get my brothers car ( my brother just had some beers so he could not drive) and would pick me up on his way there so I could babysit my nephew.

So I spend the night and the following days there to help out my sister. Luckily all went well, her husband had cut up his artery, a couple of tendons and some of his nerves, but the plastic surgeon managed to reattach everything. As you can imagine I am/was rather shocked by all this but I am glad everything is going well now.

With all this out of the way I am going back to work again :)
So Expect some new Almond Tree updates real soon!

+ Lock & Dice +

2010-10-28T14:10:00.000-07:00

Not Almond Tree related, but it was fun

+ Almond Tree : Part 6 Bird in the night +

2010-10-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

When Jacob finally came back home after a day full of work he was greeted by the scent of dinner waiting for him. He greeted his wife and daughter and looked around for his oldest son for him to greet. When there was no well mannered whisper of "welcome home dad" he looked at his wife and asked.

"Where is Charles? I have not seen him around at all, nor is he here to join us for dinner"

His wife seemed to hesitate a little which made concern leap up in his throat like a frog. Was perhaps something amiss with his son? He did seem awfully depressed these last few weeks, although he did not want to admit this to himself.

"He, he got an invitation from the Lawins, they invited him to their summer-ball,I thought it might be good for him to go out for a little while."

When she said this she looked up to him with such loving eyes he forgot all his doubts and worries. A ball really seemed something to lift the boys spirits up. He smiled warmly down upon his wife, she really was perfect was she not?

"Well then my dear, lets eat then I am starving."

Isabella guided him towards the table and sat down next to him, Penelope took the seat upper-side of them.

"What have you cooked this time my dear? it smells awfully good."

"We are having meat-pie my dear, accompanied with a home-made stew."

Jacob reached towards her and gently kissed her upon her cheek.

"That sounds marvellous my dear."

Isabella uncovered their plates and they began to eat. Jacob chatted with his wife while they ate their meal together. When they where about half way through he noticed that his daughter had not touched her food at all.

"Penny dear, why won't you eat? Does it not taste good for you?"

The girl shook her head but other then that said nothing.

"Come on dear, it is not that bad is it?" Isabella as well tried to coax the girl into eating.

But instead the girl started to cry softly, lips trembling when she did so.

"Oh dear." Isabella spoke "Why is it that you won't eat? Did I not make this all specially for you? Come on now, eat your share, I will read you a fairytale afterwards."

At that point Penelope burst out in tears and ran away from the dinner table. Jacob sat stunned with his fork halfway to his mouth. He turned towards Isabella who seemed equally shocked at the abrupt departure. Isabella stood up after carefully whipping her mouth with a napkin.

"Do not worry dear I will look after her, you continue eating your dinner."
She gave Jacob a reassuring smile before following her daughter swiftly out of the dining room.

Isabella did not have to look for her long before finding her outside under the almond tree. Isabella crouched down beside her and lay her arm around the small quivering shoulders. She noticed the small bag with the boys bones laying beside her. Isabella quickly pushed the offending bag away from her daughter. At the sound of the bag scraping against the soil Penelope looked up, her eyes streaked with tears.

"I do not like this story any more mother." she cried.
"I want to play house with Charles, I do not want this story any more."
Penelope covered her eyes
"I do not want this story any more, make it stop mom"

Isabella frowned, this was not how things where meant to go. She hoped for Penelope to stay to her naive way of thinking. Instead it seemed like Penelope slowly seemed to understand that this was reality and that her beloved brother was not going to wake up any time soon. Not in the current state he was in that was.

Isabella hated what she was going to say next, but she had gone this far with this silly story, she had only one choice left. Well she could always tell Penny the truth but that was something that was not going to happen, not if it was her to make the decision. So she decided to finish this story.

With a grimace she picked up the bag of bones and started to dig a small hole at the base of the almond tree. After a while she noticed to small hands digging besides her. She glanced up and saw her little girl digging the hole a look of pure determination on her face. Her cheeks where dirty with small clean lines of skin where her tears had washed away the grime.

The work was harder then Isabella thought, small streams of sweat made there way down her face. She paused once and pushed some stray hairs that found their way out of her bun out of her face. Then she started digging again. After a few more minutes she found the hole deep enough. She and Penelope stood on the edge of the hole Isabella held the bag of bones in one hand while laying the other on top of Penelope her head.

"Mom?" Isabella looked down into her daughters eyes. She smiled softly answering without words.

"Can I put Charles to sleep now?"

Although Isabella did not approve of her daughters affection towards that daft boy, she could not deny her daughter anything. Including finishing off the macabre request of burrowing her stepbrother. So she handed her the small bag, which was quite big now that Penelope was holding it.

Penelope held the bag over the hole and whispered softly.

"Sleep tight brother, and wake up soon so that we can play some more."
Then she gently lowered the bag until she could not bring it down any lower and let go.

The bag disappeared in the dark hole and a small hollow sound indicated that it made its way down to the bottom. The moon shone down and when Isabella and Penelope looked down they could see the dark outlines of the bag, some of the bones had fallen out , they almost seemed to glister in the moonlight.

"When will the magic begin mom?" Penelope whispered.

Isabella did not answer but gently pulled her away from the hole.

"Mom?"

Penelope looked up and tucked her mothers hand to get a response. But Isabella stood quietly looking down the hole pulling her daughter close to her. They stood there for a few minutes until Penelope started to struggle to get closer to the makeshift grave.Isabella tried to hold her more tightly but the girl was small and quick for her age, Penelope walked close to the edge and peered down again expecting the magic to start any second now.

Isabella was not sure what to do. Should she tell her daughter that Charles died? Should she tell her that Charles would take a few years to wake up? But then what? She could not continue lying against her daughter could she?

"Penny... I .... " She started out, but before she even begin her sentence the ground began to shake. Isabella let out a startled cry but Penelope bent over the hole more excited then ever.

Then the hole started to glow, pink light seemed to shine from deep within it, casting Isabella and Penelope in a eerie pinkish hue. Penelope's eyes sparkled.

"It is working mom!" she yelled excited "It is working! Charles is waking up again!"

But Isabella did not hear her daughters excited shouting. She could only stare as the light grew brighter and brighter. Fear gripped at her heart, this could not be true. Her pupils dilate themselves as she looked in both fear and awe at the still growing bright light.

"This... this can not .." Isabella whispered.

Then the shaking stopped as suddenly as it started. Tentatively Isabella took a step closer towards the hole. Although she still was afraid she had to see for herself.
Slowly she came closer and closer until she stepped up right behind Penelope. The little girl was staring down the hole in excitement, while Isabella looked more and more afraid.

Then suddenly a shrill cry was heard in the silent night, it sounded like some kind of bird, although not like any bird Isabella ever had heard before. The light that had disappeared suddenly returned and went out of the hole in a fast moving streak.
It was gone as fast as it came, leaving Penelope and Isabella to stand in the dark.

"That was so pretty!" Penelope broke the silence with her small excited voice.
"Do you think that was Charles mom? Is he awake now? Will he be able to play with me now?"

"I.... I don't know sweetie..." Isabella mumbled. So peered down the hole, it could not have been Charles right? Her eyes widened when she saw the bag down in the hole, it was empty. She shook her head widely. "No this could not be right, it was all just a play right?
Still shaking her head she stepped back, not even hearing nor responding when Penelope started to shake on her arm.

"No... no...." was all she could mutter.

Somewhere in the forest a bird cried in the night.

+ Almond Tree : Penny - Down the River +

2010-10-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

Decided to settle with the design I made earlier
This was supposed to be a small sketch to get to know her movements more, but I got carried away, whoops

A little info about her :

"Penelope is a young girl who is very curious about her surroundings. She is very naive and believes in all the fairy tales her mother reads to her. She never sees any danger in her little exploring acts, thinking that her 'magic wand' will save her if she does drop down in the river."

btw I do not consider her to be "manga" or "anime" but is she?
and if so should I make her eyes smaller?

+ Almond Tree : Charles Doodle +

2010-10-16T11:44:00.001-07:00

this is fun I should doodle more often :)

+ K i c k +

2010-10-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

yay new picture it was fun to work on
lots of layers as I was trying out some different colouring techniques
Should have done some things different (better planning is one of them )
but it is okay for now :)

+ Almond Tree : Two faced +

2010-10-07T04:51:00.000-07:00

Just something that I am currently mulling over
Children scare me, not IRL but whenever children show up in films or games I get on edge about them. Even when their is nothing wrong at all, I keep this strange 'I bet that kid will go psycho any minute now' feeling.

With my current challenge of developing a little girl character things have been really clashing
On one hand I just want her to be a normal kid, but then again somehow it does not feel right
So I am thinking about making it one messed up kid (which fits much better with me :P)

A song that is representing this feeling of two faces for me would be the following one
(only the melody and the feel ;) the lyrics are about something completely unrelated namely the Hiroshima bombing :(

The gentle soft parts and the ugly raw ones mixing and twirling together in an obscure satisfying way. I think that Penelope fits with this although her balance is a bit more softness and a little less ugly (or so she tries to be)

I have no idea if I will use this in any way but I just had to get it out of my head ;)

+ Almond Tree : Penelope +

2010-10-05T03:07:00.000-07:00

As the title suggest it is Penny again, I think I will settle for this design for now

Keywords for her are/where :
Innocent
Naive
Cute
Fragile
Happy

Opinion/ suggestions are very welcome D:

+ Preview +

2010-10-02T03:34:00.000-07:00

Small preview of what I am currently working on aka my graduation project research about ethics, empathy and how and why we make certain choices

this page still need a few changes to maximize the reading comfort
(in some places the text is unreadable :| )

I am still thrilled with Indesign,
I remember the days when I had to learn QuarkXpress
Horrible program that was...

+ Minor update +

2010-09-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

Long time since I post :| seems like forever!
so what has been up this last few weeks, well uh.

yes been researching a lot about philosophy, ethics and empathy to use in my graduation project
It is very, very interesting but also very tiring
since I can not seem to stop thinking about it
it just goes on and on and on in my head 0_o

Sometimes I would like to have a pause button like in the Sims
Whenever I messed those guys up I would click pause
then give them all the correct orders to clean the mess up
and after that hit play again.

It would be darn handy if one could pause ones progress
figure out all the correct steps in the correct order
and then hit play to finish it all neatly and quickly

but alas, no such button exists, not that I am aware of anyway
So I guess I will just have to life a little longer with the hectic way of things for a while

also! I really should sketch more, but somehow I feel really insecure about anything I make :\
I blame it on the autumn weather and the lack of sunlight
Hope to resolve this slight draw back soon!

Chiaki Ishikawa - Uninstall

2010-09-08T03:31:00.001-07:00

I do not think I listened to a song so none stop since the last single of Pierrot
so relaxing (|=.=|)

+ Almond Tree : Part 5 Covering it up +

2010-09-07T00:33:00.000-07:00

Upstairs Lady Corwin had already heard her daughter cry out in fear, she closed her eyes waiting for the moment she would run in and demand answers. Instead suddenly her arms were filled with the quivering girl. Tears dripped down her cheeks making wet splashes on her shirt. Lady Corwin lifted her hands and put them down on her head in a comforting manner.

"I killed him mom, I killed him" Penelope cried.

Lady Corwin gently moved back in forward. Singing the nursery song she always sang when her daughter was still save inside her womb

Although Lady Corwin seemed calm and collect from the outside, inside she was panicking. How could she clean up this mess? She could no longer just simply bring him to the woods, more however her daughter was at danger. What if word caught wind and the villagers believed her daughter harmed the young heir? She bit her lip again, this was not how she had planned this, hell she did not plan anything at all! How in the world could she ever clean up this mess?

She took a deep breath "Okay Isabella" she told herself "First things, first, the most important thing for now is to keep Penelope her record clean. She took a quick glance at the girl who was still clinging desperately at her dress. She could not believe she would be the reason of her girls distress, her eyes darkened.

No! It was all that boys fault, if he had not been here, if he had not been such a nuisance, then she would not have to clear things. She clenched her fist, that stupid boy, why must he ruin everything. Even in death. Isabella made a tsking noise before turning her head away. First of all she had to calm down her daughter, convince her that nothing was wrong with the boy, it would be kind of hard though, with his head being severed from his body and all, but her daughter still was young. She still believed in fairy's, dragons and elves. She might be able to twist this all in a morbid story.

"Penny,dear listen to me" She took the girl by her shoulders holding her an arms length away.
She patiently pushed some of the stray hairs behind her daughters ears before continuing.

"Why are you so upset dear? what happened?"

Still sobbing Penelope started to shakily tell her what had happened, from the moment she walked out until the terrifying ending of her brother without his head. Then she broke down in crying again.

"Oh Penny..." Isabella sighted. "And you thought that you killed Charles?"

She looked up surprised, eyes growing wide.

"He is not dead then?"

Her pupils where wide and dilated, Isabella almost winced at the sight, she looked so utterly out of it, all because of the boy. A cold hate rushed trough her not giving in to it just yet she smiled and caressed her daughters cheek.

"Of course not dear, he is merely sleeping."

"but... but... his head...." Started Penelope.

"Oh yes dear, he is not merely sleeping, forgive me, but it is an enchanted sleep."

"Enchanted?"

By now Penelope's sobs had gone over in soft hiccuping and snivelling. Isabella smiled, good she bought the story so far, it pained her to lie to her daughter but it would save her from much more pain in the long run.

"Yes Penny, enchanted just like Snowwhite and Sleeping Beauty you remember those right?"

Penelope nodded, of course she remembered how often did she dream away with this stories, sometimes she wished something like that would happen to her, and now it seemed her brother became part of them! she could not help getting excited.

"How do we wake him up then mom? Does he need to be kissed by a prince as well?"

Isabella's face softened at the display of such amount of innocence and naivety. She really should teach her daughter about the hardships in life but whenever she looked into those big blue eyes she forgot her duty as life tutor and became the doting mother again. Oh well, she always could teach her these things later on, when she did not have to cover up murder. She suddenly frowned. Murder sounded so cruel, she would call it an accident. Yes, that sounded much better.

She looked up from her thoughts noticing her daughter looking at her. For a moment Isabella wondered why she looked at her with those big eyes. Before remembering the enchanted sleep story.

"No dear, since he is a boy himself he can not be kissed awake by a prince it is a little different when boys go into enchanted sleep"

Penelope nodded like she had expected this answer already.

"So... we need to do something different" Isabella racked her brain thinking away to dispose of the body AND making sense as an "enchanted" wake up call. Her eyes landed upon the book she had been reading earlier about some tribal group living in the deep forests, it was common for them to sacrifice children to the forest-gods to please them, in order to do so they where skinned and their bones buried beneath the holly tree, after that their flesh was cooked and shared along the villagers. It was gruesome, cruel and disgusting but maybe this might just work.

"You see Penny my dear, boys are very different from girls right?"

Penelope nodded "Yes they do not like dolls and do not wear dresses and get dirty"
Isabella laughed "Precisely so a kiss is something only for girls to wake up, boys need something entirely different, we will need to lay him underneath a sacred tree which then will grant him to wake up again"

"Sacred?" Penelope interrupted confusion written all over her face

"Yes, sacred, a special tree."

Penelope began jumping up and down "I know, I know, the Almond tree!" she almost shouted.

"Yes, that seems like a special tree, doesn't it?

"That cursed tree would be burned down later." Isabella thought. "Nothing but trouble it seemed to give." Plus it reminded her too much of the boy. Then she continued.

"But we can not just lay him there, we need to only bring his bones there or it might not work. " Penelope looked confused at this. so Isabella tried to get a explanation that did not seem to strange or far-fetched.

"You see Penny we could just lay him under the tree there, but sacred trees are old and thus have different rules then the witches and fairy's of your stories. If we would lay him there as he is now, the tree might mistake him for a bird or a deer."

Now she picked up the book she was reading before and showed Penelope the pictures of the children who got sacrificed. They really were gruesome, the painter had taken great effort to display all the despair that seemed to leak out of the children eyes as their parents skinned them for the ritual.

"You see Penny? These boys also had an enchanted sleep, see how they woke up again?"
She then flipped the page and showed her the next picture. A rainforest after the rain.

Isabella could feel the book quiver in her hold, why did she show her this book? There were no pictures about happy families after the sacrifice. She closed her eyes and waited.

She could already hear the accusing voice of her daughter.

"ohhhh you nasty woman, you lied. Charles is dead and it was you who did it, oooh nasty woman"

Instead she heard her daughters excited chatter as she pointed at something in the picture book. Confused she looked down to where her daughter was pointing at.

"Oh mom! will Charles become that then? will he?"

Isabella looked down, she had flipped more then one page and instead of the rainforest it showed a picture of some magical creature that was rumoured to live down there. Isabella found it a foul looking creature but Penelope seemed excited so she crushed down her disgust and faked another smile.

"That is right dear, now why don't you go and play while mom will prepare everything."

But Penelope shook her head. "No mom I want to help as well"

Isabella opened her mouth to object but closed it only moments after. When her daughter made that face it was impossible to argue with her, much like herself. Besides maybe now was the right time to show her daughter that not everything in the world was flowers and sunshine, but that the world was more like betrayal and bloodshed. Of course she had to be careful, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity to as her own mother had called it "ease a innocent soul in".

Isabella stood up, smoothed the creases out of her dress and walked towards the stairs.

"All right then dear, you can help, but you can not tell dad about this, remember that he does not like fairy tales at all."

Penelope smiled and Isabella put her arm around her daughter.

"Come on then dear, mom will show you how to make an excellent meat-pie. "

+ Almond Tree : Concept sketches +

2010-09-06T05:18:00.001-07:00

there, somehow I managed it

First up : Isabella Spades
first "decent" sketch up of her

And Charles as well...

That was fun :D it has been a long time since I found drawing/sketching relaxing again
it had started to feel so pressing :\
Must be of the 20 slides in 3 days deadline xD

Almond Tree : Kick start +

2010-09-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

SooooOoooo... I started my graduation project last week, very slowly I might add ;P
I talked to my mentor and got myself a graduate teacher
(the one I really wanted had to go on a half year break... stupid rules D:)
I will be meeting my teacher tomorrow so I hope everything will work out

Everything is going very fast and slow at the same time, kind of confusing
characters develop more and more, I keep on adding and distracting personalities, as well as finding more and more loopholes for alternative choices on how the story might end
so that part is going rather fast, but I yet have to put this all on paper to give it a more firm form
It is all floating images and conversations going trough my head right now
making it almost impossible to focus on one thing

So far I started more then one character sketch, and have not finished even one!

Tomorrow I will work at school, and I will make myself a deadline, at least 1 must be finished before I can go home D:<

I will post the result tomorrow, may it be crap or not it will be finished!

+ 12012 +

2010-08-12T11:10:00.000-07:00

Its been ages since I last ranted about music D:
I "blame" it on vacation

anyway, so yes, music aaaah~ I can not live without it, it seems :\

The other day 2 new cds showed up a semi-old single of SUG (since its only a couple of weeks old but hey singles get old rather quickly) and the newest album of 12012.

SUG was nice, cute and catchy like always, but I am more excited about 12012!

It is one of those bands that I fell in love with many years ago..... 4-5 years perhaps?
I loved their raw style and kind of aggressive approach to expresing themselves
(sometimes a bit to literal when the vocalist got arrested for almost choking a clingy fan to death)

Anyway point was I loved it! so whenever something came out I was like 0____o must get!
(illegal style since back then I did not have the urge to buy the stuff :P )

Then they got signed to a big label, that is always a good thing for bands, means more money, more promotion and thus more opportunities. So I waited all excited for them to get even more awesome. Unfortunately their music turned to utter crap!

It was suddenly all poppy and yucky ( probably to get other people to listen to them as well)

Disappointed I turned away from them a bit, just checking in on them every few months to see if they perhaps started to make something awesome again. I got disappointment upon disappointment. I almost gave up on them.... BUT THEN! oh wonders they suddenly made something that I liked again. So when I heard their new album was about to be released I hesitated a little but decided that I would order it, even when it would suck it was a nice payment for all the free music I leached from them :P

I am so glad I did! I love it! It still has got the softer songs in it but it sounds much better!
ah~ 12012 you did it again! Now don't fall back and continue going down on this path of awesomeness instead of utter crap.

+ Writing of horror +

2010-08-06T01:44:00.000-07:00

hmmzz I really out did myself this time :|
got myself stuck in the story once again so stupid of me xD
I write contradictions ALL THE FREAKING TIME
I probably should rewrite all the stuff and catch all the stupid mistakes xD
... not to mention the massive HEAP of spelling errors/ grammar mistakes and messy convo...

ugh no wonder I am not a writer xD

excuse my rambling , my tea is waiting for me
as well as a round of secretly killing people aka assassin's creed FTW

next up!

character design for Isabella

maybe

+ Gluko & Lennon +

2010-07-29T06:31:00.000-07:00

Gluko & Lennon ENG from Gluko & Lennon on Vimeo.

+ Almond Tree : Part 4 Cleaning up +

2010-06-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

Time seemed to slow down for Lady Corwin. She had done it, she really had done it. She looked down on the lifeless body of the small boy, he lay slumped over the chest his head and part of his arm still stuck in the chest. His collar was slowly turning red and not soon after the steady drip of blood filled the small storage room. The light was bouncing brilliantly across the small rubies that continued to splash down and slowly cover the ground. Lady Corwin closed her eyes her breath slowed down ever so slightly. She knew she should feel terrible for killing an innocent child but instead she felt relieved as if a huge weight had lifted of her shoulders. She tilted her head back and slowly opened her eyes, she smiled when she felt the sun touch her cheeks, she did not feel bad, or guilty, no this was pure bliss.

Then suddenly the sound of small footsteps could be heard in the distance. Lady Corwin snapped her head back eyes widening breath speeding up again.

"Penelope"

She looked down at where the boy still was laying motionless blood pooling around him. She had to dispose of him somehow, her daughter was still too young to understand the meaning of this.

Her pupils dilated even further when the smiling face of Jacob popped up. Jacob... if he was to ever find out she killed that thing he adored so much she would never have a chance for daughter. She nervously bit her fingernails. She had to think of something. Anything to clear this mess.

Also she could not just up and bury him, her daughter would wonder where the boy was. and not to forget the rest of the village would be going in a mad frenzy to search for the young heir to get some reward for sure.

The footsteps came closer and Lady Corwin started to panic, she needed to think of something fast. The body, she needed to hide the body.

She lifted the lid of the chest again and gagged, his head still was attached to his body by a slim sliver of muscle and skin but it would not last long. she briefly turned away to get her gagging reflex under control, a dull sound reached her ears, when she turned back she saw that the body had started to slip and was now laying on the floor, dead unseeing eyes boring into hers.

Footsteps again.

In blind panic she grabbed the boy by his arm and started to pull him away from the chest, his head bobby sickly with the pulling movements but still managed to somehow stay attached.

Outside, she needed him to get outside, like he never made it home and something, something awful had happened to him out there.

Her head snapped up at the sound of a door opening. She had to hurry, Pennelope could come down any second now. With some difficulty she managed to push open the front-doors and drag the boy outside. Wiping the sweat of her head she looked down the hall. A trail of blood had followed her from the kitchen, biting her lip she knew she did not have any time left to both dispose of the boy and to clean up this mess. Wildly she looked around and noticed one of the old chairs that one of the servants had brought out the other day. They were supposed to be disposed off but Jacob told them they could handle the job later on and urged them to go home to their families.

The creaking of the older floorboards upstairs made her decide what to do. She would put the boy down here for the time being. Then later when her daughter was secure in her bedroom sleeping she would take the boy to the forest, and feign her worry to Jacob. Sure he would take it hard but she would play the loving wife and soon he would forget this thing and focus on her daughter again.

She picked up the boy careful not to let any of the bloodied back touch her and put him down in one of the chairs. The head lolled forward dangerously almost breaking the thin layer of skin holding it to the body. She gently pushed the head back up on his neck and nearly lovingly tied her scarf around his neck to keep it attached. She then pulled out her handkerchief and wiped some of the bloody trails away that had managed to slide down his face when he was still hanging upside down in the chest.

She smiled with a sadness in her eyes. Pushing his hair back behind his ears.

"I am sorry dear, but you proved to be too much of a burden, a shame though, you could have been a nice son"

She softly kissed him on his forehead and then as in an after thought pushed one of the red apples in his hands. She smiled down up him. She really could have liked him this way, too bad she had to dispose of him so quickly.

With one last look she got back upon her feet and hurried down to the kitchen to get the mop to clean the hallway. Only moments after she swiped the last of the bloody trail she heard light footsteps bouncing of the stairs.

"Hello mother, did Charles come back yet"

Lady Corwin put down the mop and wiped her hands on her skirt.

"Oh I am sure he will be down here any second now dear, why don't you have another cup of tea."

But the girl shook her head and reached for the door.

"No thank you mom, I will go search for him, besides I have not been outside yet, it will do me good."

Lady Corwin reached for her daughter but she had already opened the door and walked out. She brought a shaking hand towards her face, how could she ever explain this?

When Pennelope did not return right away screaming and crying she calmed herself. Maybe she did not see the boy yet, maybe she just had rushed past the old chairs without looking at them. She bit her lip again, then turned around and headed for the drawing room. She needed to be calm when her daughter needed some answers, like why her brothers head was no longer attached to his neck.

Meanwhile Penelope did saw her brother outside and was sitting next to him on the other chair.

"Hey Charles do you want to play tea-party with me later?" Her brother sat and stared ahead of him, not moving nor speaking. She smiled at him, although he was kind of strange and quite she really looked up to him. He never yelled at her and always wanted to play even if she knew he did not really enjoy their tea-parties.

Penelope smiled and turned her head slightly.

"But Charles, did you know? Mother promised we could have an apple later on. When you could come home that is. But since you are here already lets get one okay?"

She reached to grab his hand like she always did, pulling her brother with her into one of her crazy adventures. When she noticed a glimmering red apple tightly clasped in his hands.

"eh? did you already went and get one? that is not fair Charles." Penelope puffed up her cheeks the way she always did when things did not went her way. and glared at her brother.

"Then I should get one as well right?" She jumped off her chair and twirled around.
Her brother only stared at her, seemingly lost in thoughts.

"mah you are no fun." Pennelope stuck out her tongue and stomped of to get her apple. Moments later she returned her head down.

"I could not get the chest open" she muttered to herself.
"Hey Charles come with me and help me lift okay?"

She pulled his hand but he remained sitting.

"Cha-aaaa-rls" she whined "come on this is not funny any more" She gave him one last pull before giving up. Tears gathered in her eyes.

"Y-you are so mean Charles!"

She turned around and cried a little, when she did not feel the warm arms of her brother encircling her like he normally did when she was upset she turned back around. He just sat there starring, saying nothing, unmoving.

"I hate you!" she screamed and pushed the chair. The chair seemed to fall in slow-motion falling back taking Charles with him. When he hit the floor he lay unmoving on the ground.

"Charles?" she called out, carefully she took a step forward peering over the chair. What she saw then made her eyes wide with fear, quickly she scrambled away, not even caring that her dress was getting dirty. She backed up and reached for the doorknob, pushing open the door she ran without daring to look back.

Her brothers dead eyes kept on staring at her as she ran up the stairs towards safety