Weekly Post for October 2014 Daily Doodle #2

Happy Halloween! The last doodles for my October batch of daily doodles.

Weekly Post for October 2014 Daily Doodle #1

Howdy! To make it easier on myself, I will be posting my daily doodles in weekly bundles for on my blog. I will be doing this every Friday. I just started my daily doodles back this week, hence only three for this week. Also organizing them by month to make it easier for me to keep up. All my daily doodles for the rest of October will be Halloween themed. Well, hope you enjoy my doodles and see ya next week!

Daily Doodle 10/2014 1-A Batty Witch

Daily Doodle 10/2014 2-A Sneaky Schoolgirl Witch

Daily Doodle 10/2014 3-A Headless Pumpkin Fairy

30 Day Sketchbook Challenge 15-30

Well, finally getting to posting here again. The last two weeks have be hectic and I had been unable to post here with trying to keep up with my challenge. Hence doing a mass post of the second half of my 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge. Also starting back up my daily doodle, though will be posting them here in a weekly update which will start this Friday.

Day 15-Favorite Video Game Character

Day 16-Something to represent favorite song

Day 17-Favorite Holiday

Day 18-A couple

Day 19-Something you fear

Day 20-A comic

Day 21-Something You Hate

Day 22-Favorite Season

Day 23-Something you love

Day 24-Something to represent favorite country

Day 25-Something from folklore

Day 26-Favorite Sweet

Day 27-Favorite Scene from a Movie

Day 28-Draw a room

Day 29-Favorite Weather

Day 30-Tell your readers something, which for me is "Thank you!"

30 Day Sketchbook Challenge - Day 13 and 14/ Inktober Begins!

Howdy! Did not get onto Blogger yesterday, so slight catch up. Day 13 was doing a group picture which I did of some slimes from an RPG. Day 14 was to do your favorite book character, so did Shiroe from the light novel series Log Horizon... But, I have also started Inktober and doing a bit of a project with my images. The first one if the characters of the first project, which the project is called Witch.

Day 13-Group Picture

Day 14-Favorite Book Character

Inktober 1-Witch Group Pic

30 Day Sketchbook Challenge - Day 12

Howdy! On day 12 and decided to draw outside today. The prompt was an inanimate object, so did a tractor.

30 Day Sketchbook Challenge - Day 11

Howdy! Day 11 of the challenge. Prompt is favorite food, which I did of the Pizza Sub from Subway. Which is no longer on the menu there. Thankfully now it is easy to get the big slices of pepperoni, so I can revive it from the dead.

30 Day Sketchbook Challenge - Day 10

Howdy! Ten days in a row and 1/3 the way done for the challenge. But, still got a ways to go and going to be taking it up a notch in 3 days with also adding Inktober drawings to my posting schedule here. Today's prompt is to draw something you cannot live without. For me, it's my work in progress Artist/writer's Survival Bag. Has all my supplies for me to write and draw on the go so I can work anywhere. Zombie apocalypse rations are optional.

30 Day Sketchbook Challenge - Day 9

Howdy! Prompt for today is draw your favorite cartoon character... And this took me a while to figure out who to draw. So I settled on Sora and Shiro from No Game No Life. I also did a time lapse video of this sketch. Still working out a proper set up to record my drawings. Partly because it is helpful to see mistakes. You can see the video through this link.

30 Day Sketchbook Challenge-Day 6, 7, and 8

Howdy! Due to a combination of internet issues and such, I ended up not able to post my last two doodles here on my blog, so rolling them into the post for Day 8. Also, setting something up soon which I will announce in a separate post.

Day 6-Draw Something You Never Drew... Which I drew a hermit shell. Never drew a shell before, oddly enough.

Day 7- Draw a family member or family... Did my two Angora bunnies as my father left before I could draw him and could not find a photo of him to draw from(where did his pictures go?).

Day 8-Favorite Color... I combined with a shape challenge, where you include the determined shape into the image you make. It was pumpkin and orange is one of my three favorite colors.

30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Day 5

Howdy! Now on day 5 of the challenge. Draw your favorite attire. So, drew my favorite ninja T-shirt, cargo pants, sandals, and my messenger bag full of drawing and writing goodies. Wish I had the Shiroe glasses like the ones I drew. I would be in heaven.

30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Day 4

Howdy! Day 4 and time to draw a cute animal. I decided to do an owl. I can oddly draw birds quite well compared to cats.

30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Day 3

Howdy! Now onto day, which is to draw a friend. I chose to draw one of my cat, Cowboy. I have weird names for my cats, though need to work on drawing cats. Next prompt will be an fun one.

30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Day 2

Howdy! It's day 2 of my attempt of the challenge. The prompt was draw someone you love. So, I drew my twin sister. She is working to be a nurse, though loves role playing games including D&D. Well, next one will be fun. Let's see if two of my friends are photogenic today.

30 Day Sketchbook Challenge Day 1

Howdy! I am going to try working on post on my blog more often. Hence, I decided with starting the 30 Day Sketchbook Challenge and trying to get a daily doodle habit, I will try to post a doodle on my blog everyday. Might also post other things like works in progress and finished pieces here as well. So, here's the drawing for the first challenge: drawing yourself or your persona.

Getting Back on Track with Magic Box

Howdy, everyone. Man, I haven't done a post in a while here, but it was a rough period I needed to get through and it seems now things are calming down a bit(and hope I did not just jinx that). So, what have I been doing the past two months? Writing a lot, but due to the last few weeks of a small panic attack, I been forced to focus on my fanfiction while moving it from the site I usually post on to another site. However, it is helping me realize what I should be focusing on my personal project once I get it off the back burner once my writing area calms down a bit... And I really, REALLY need to avoid Wattpad contests as the writing promps are a breeding ground for plot bunnies. At least for me. I have also some of my daily doodle(okay, not so much daily) project I been trying to keep up in this post for you all to enjoy.

However, the biggest thing in the last two months is I been trying to get part-time or full time work to help cover my student loans and invest back into the career I want. Finally...Well, sort of gotten work as I am working with a temp agency. Not steady income, but it works for me as my expenses are quite low for the time and give me the time I need to also focus on my work as an artist and writer. But, due to finally getting money of my own, I did a little spending spree with my first paycheck I gotten in a long time... No, I did not forget my expenses and in fact, have enough in my back account to cover it for this month.

So, what did I buy? One thing I bought is actually a package of anatomy resources and drawing anatomy ebook from Jazza of the Draw with Jazza Youtube channel. Now, I am good with anatomy, but my issue comes from I have issues drawing humans from references, hence this will help me out as I also work on drawing humans stylized as well. I can draw humans realistically or very cartoony, but have issues getting that middle you see with caricatures. Hence I would love to improve on that issue.  Here's the link to Jazza's video where he explains his book and package with links to his products. Draw With Jazza -Easy Anatomy

The other thing and what I am really excited about is I have finally applied for Chris Oatley's Magic Box. It's an online academy for digital painting taught by Chris Oatley, a Disney artist who quit his job to teach others. The course also is helpful with learning to paint with using computer programs, but can also be applied to traditional painting and drawing. I just managed to get on, so will be seeing how the helps me out. It will at least help me build up my portfolio up at the very least.

However, these two purchases is not the only thing I am doing to try and improve on my art skills. Even though I graduated from college, the drawing professor from the college I went to invited me back to draw in his figure drawing classes. I am taking up that offer and, when I have a free Monday or Wednesday, I will be joining his class to draw and keep my drawing skills up. That and get see if I can get some good drawings for my portfolio with now going into illustration. I will be showing my progress with Magic Box and other drawings here with blog posts. Also, I am restarting my illolifeRPG,but starting back out at level 1 since I now that I got an idea where I am going with my career and will be posting updates on my blog for level updates. Well, hope you enjoy this post and Auto out... Dammit, sorry, wrong blog(have one for my fanfiction now). Meant to say, see ya all later.

Working Towards a Loose Routine

After that lovely post last month, I need to put something a little more light-hearted. I have a bit of a negative attitude, hence why I try to see things with both a good and bad side to help me deal with it. Net Neutrality issue... No good, hence the negative rant last post.

So, I decided to do a light post this time. Mainly because... The last month has been a bit rough. My studio has been uprooted, two family members ending up in the hospital, and so on. Sigh. It's only half way through the year and I am starting to think I should put it as one of my rougher years. However, not going to go on about it. There's enough gloom in the world as is.

 However, due to my current issues, I have been forced to focus on my writings instead of illustration. Mainly due to losing my art programs on my laptop and having to use my desktop for my illustration work... And it's next door due to issues where I sleep and work at next door. So, instead, I started some watercolor experiments which I will be trying to work on later this week and a daily doodle/sketch to keep me in practice while not working on any big illustrations. Here's one of them below.

You can follow my daily doodle/sketch deal on Instagram. I am autonin13 there, though my Instagram on my computer is acting up, hence no link. I am also back on the hunt for a job. Even though trying to work on a webfiction novel and my fanfiction. However, I am starting to get a habit down and hope to make a loose routine of writing and drawing everyday to make sure once I get a job(not expecting it with how things are), I can keep it going. Because, once you get past the bad part of a path, there is always something good to look forward to.

Net Neutrality is in Danger!

Over the last few months, there has been a lot of buzz about Net Neutrality and the telecom companies trying to get rid of it. I am not going to go into my views and such, mainly due to it would become a full on rant and would not help the situation. Instead, here's a post that Chris Oatley has done that explains it plain and simple way better than I could even do: Our Creative Future is At Risk.

What I am going to say is the possible BIG issues that will come out of losing Net Neutrality for the USA. I am not an expert on business and such. However, I understand how "systems" works from businesses to agriculture to history and many more through what I often research for stories and my own curiosity. This is my opnion, but you could say it's what I have a feeling is USA's worse cast scenrio with how things are right now. It is up for you to decide if you agree with me or not, but I think we all can agree losing Net Neutrality is a very bad thing for the whole world. I know this will effect the rest of the world, but I don't have enough information of what is going on fully with every countries' business models, economic freedom, internet status, and so on and I also want to keep this post short. Hence this mainly focuses on the USA, but with what I give, people in other countries can probably get an idea of what implications they will feel from it like mass immigration and such since this could be the trigger than sends the world back into economic depression, not just the USA as I know for sure we will need to change the Great Depression in later history to the "1st Great Depression" with how the USA is going to begin without this whole mess through personal and research views.

Right now, many job fields are shifting how they do work for the internet we have now which allows even small players to make a living. However, telecom companies have noticed this and want a piece of the pie. Hence wanting to make it possible to do a toll which it forced Netflixs to do hencehow this whole mess got started. They will repeat slowing the internet down for everyone who chooses not to pay the toll and allow people the same current access for those who do now. Television companies do the same thing now for a lot of content and this is why a lot of people are forgot not just cable, but satellite television as well with deciding to either buy the stuff they love in physical form or pay for the streaming or digital versions. Anime and such fans already go for this route with how hard it is to even see our stuff on television here in the US. However, this is where the internet providers and such will end up doing one big mistake.

The main street economic models are and have changed out of what the internet providers still think it is. Instead of focusing on growth like big companies, many small and medium companies are realizing you can't have a healthy system(not just economy) to live in with just growth. Hence they are focusing on sustainably with focusing on great service, staying within their niches, and helping out others in and out of their niches which provides a better, over all ecosystem of business than what's going on in big business. This will survive without the internet since many small towns and more "sustainable focused" mind places all over the world has began setting this up. These guys will be the ones who will probably get us out of this economic mess once the full storm is gone if this happens, but I am not crossing my fingers with my knowledge of history on hand.

The BIG problem comes with losing the internet playing field. This is what is allowing this new economic model to spread across the globe and allowing international collaboration in entrepreneurship and innovation the world currently needs for a whole mess of issues on all levels have made. For artists level, any fans are able to reach to their favorite artists and other content creators through the internet and this allowed fans to also support them where as before this was impossible and often big business and agents took most of the money that would never reach the content creators. With this new system, Patreon.com would probably not as well if the telecom companies slow it down to where it can't be used and this is one of the areas where they really want to slow the internet down for: make it so small, but powerful players unable to compete.

However, this is where it will come back and bit them in the bottom. Many people who are becoming content creators and entrepreneur are those who have lost jobs or are not even being able to get into even the part-time job field due to the "Jobless Recovery" in not just the USA. Other countries has seen this, too, hence the term "NEET" for Not in Education, Employment, or Training. Though some don't share it or try to hide it like the USA does. Many of the still "young" generation are in a high unemployment of 15% in the government reported numbers. Shadowstats.com and Explistats.com show that overall unemployment for all ages is a lot higher than reported and my generation is feeling the bit worse along with the generation below mine. Hence why a lot of us have given up on the traditional route of getting a part-time job or entry level job. We are, instead, focusing on working hard building up our creative career from the ground up with no support or little support compared to past artists who were able to work part-time or get a smaller job to help them keep paying the bills while getting better. Hence, we are launching right into personal projects and other such things like opening our own businesses. We have to MAKE our own jobs and learn the hard ways in doing so instead of just getting the chance to learn from our elders by getting into studios and such where it is easier to make mistake and get back up again. In order to do this, we moved to small towns and states or even back to our home towns where the cost of living is much lower or to get to states where opening a business is possible. This means also internet providers in such areas aren't that good to begin with to open up shop and create a job. Places like California and some Northern states as an example are way too high in cost in living just live as a rich person, let allow artist in my opinion. I seriously don't get an apartment smaller than a normal house going for 1 million in dollars for just rent in some of these cities, and the view for them some of those aren't worth it either.

The instant that internet freedom is taken away, the price of the internet will go up pretty quickly on both tiers. Not just the high speed tier as I know all to well from studying history what monopolies will do. Without that advantage to run businesses, many of us will be hit being forced to pay a lot for bad internet or pay a lot for our current internet(there is now high speed lane in my opinion as it depends on your cables and bandwidth mostly when you are in the country side). The places with the best internet will likely be cities and such which even now are too high for artists to just vacation in, let alone live in. This will force the one thing the USA managed to avoid that the European Union has been seeing quite badly: Brain Drain.

Brain Drain is what the European Union calls that many college educated(both young and old) people are leaving their country for places with more economic freedom and better cost of living. The only reason the USA hasn't seen it as badly is due to its internet freedom and it's widely vast economic system across the country allowed people to keep in the country, yet still move to better locations where they can live. Yet, once the internet is gone, only those areas that have established good areas for business and allow even wealth poor entrepreneurs a means to work will be able to keep thriving and the amount of areas where conditions are too bad for even rich to live will rise across the board. It's not my own theory. This is a cycle that his been repeated time and time again throughout history all over the world even before the internet was born. However, this time around, the USA is not prepared to be able to keep all the young ones close to home like in the past. Many other countries have realized the USA's past advantages and have made their countries more suited for entrepreneurs along with trying to improve their internet at the cost of losing a bit of their control over it to do so(though censorship is still a big issue in other countries). Hence why the USA has been dropping in the economic freedom ratings while some areas like Hong Kong have gone up.

The younger generations will move to there from the USA if possible. If not, find where they will best be able to survive in the USA and work with it as we always do in such a situation. Mainly because there is no entry level jobs left in the USA unless you know someone to help you get in. Even studios have began wanting more of artists than just having great drawing skills, though it's easier to get into those studios than some job fields. Many younger people have to make their own jobs to just get into entry level jobs and hence once the internet is no longer an even playing field, they will have to move where that field is better for them to play in. With that, even the telecom companies won't be able to keep up their toll road model as no one but the rich will be able to pay for it and even they would probably not want it with how bad the service is with how some of these companies are like. Innovation will be pushed to offshore or underground(some business are already going underground in the USA due to over-legislation making it impossible to do business legally) and it will take a lot of fixing the economy to bring it back later on. The world, not just the USA, would go into another Depression as it would hit everyone, though those areas already ahead business freedom wise would come out of it better even with feeling the pain. We, in the USA, are still suffering the recession that our government has say is gone. I don't think the world would be very happy for us to bring them down with us with one big Depression which we are already heading for just USA and European Union wise.

So, support Net Neutrality by emailing Tom Wheeler and telling him how you feel about this issue of getting rid of Net Neutrality. Also, sorry if I scare you with this post, but this is actually something actually happening now in the USA as many areas have already collapsed economic wise and people are trying to just survive with stagnate wages and job created and prices ever increasing in this country. I seen it with my own eyes and moved due to the Recession taking out my parent's jobs right when I was about to go to college. We lived a poorly for a time as my dad worked union jobs through the union he stayed with till retirement last year and my mother took a year or two to finally get a job again while my sister and work hard to try and keep our tuition bills low through scholarships and marching and concert band. We had to take out loans starting our junior year in college as our hard work soon became barely able to keep up with rising tuition costs. I know other countries like the European Union and the rest of the world are already paying higher prices compared to the USA. I am not being a whiner about the USA's prices going up as I know quite well others have it worse around the world and it is coming be it we like it or not. I am prepared for that reality.  That is because the USA are becoming like everyone else in the world, both in rights and economy, so it's better to ensure Net Neutrality for when that comes so that we can keep on top of things and keep most of our freedoms we have yet to give away. Because, it might be what also ensures the rights of those elsewhere in the world to the Internet and help them with their own struggles for their rights or ensure we and the rest of the world lose that right all together.

Busy Bee In Writing

Well, finally, got through the first round of my new releasing schedule. And now to get everything prep for next month and trying to get a buffer going. If you are wondering what I mean, I write fanfiction and planning to do possible some webcomics and webfiction as well. I always wrote fanfiction as a hobby and now I am using it as a skill builder while getting my illustrator portfolio up to speed and working slowly on my other personal projects to insure I figure out my limits without another bout of burn out.

So, why focus on fanfiction? Well, I actually restarted some with getting out of college. As I said, it was a hobby I love to do. And now, it's my passion along side illustration and writing. Though, I do admit my mouth cashed a check that I am now trying to fix. This being the doing one chapter and posting it before the next. I did not learn my lesson after college stopped me from posting and now it finally hitting me. However, instead of stopping, I have started a schedule to let myself get a buffer while still posting on a normal schedule after going on a small hiatus. I took the hiatus due to my beta-reader getting overwhelmed with her studies and decided it was best not to add to her work load... Even if she loves beta-reading for me. Hence, part of the reason for the buffer is for when she returns to her studies in Fall classes as I got her for summer.

However, the reason I decided to put my focus into fanfiction is to get drilled into me personal set deadlines and also get a feel for a routine of posting content. Since the worse I would get is nasty reviews if I did badly, fanfiction is actually a pretty safe bet though I try to keep my stories pretty good quality. During the hiatus, I went back and fixed up two stories with finding minor mistakes and once I get a good enough buffer, the other one will start to get another reproofing of earlier chapters though that's later since it's longer than the others.

So, what is my fandom in fanfiction? Well, I like to do Naruto fanfiction, mostly crossovers. I was an early fan of Naruto, though not so much of the current Naruto Shippuden series. I write in this fandom since I am still quite familiar with it. Though, a lot of my crossovers spread out into different areas compared to normal Naruto crossovers like Puella Magi Kazumi Magica, , Log Horizon, and so on.  I even got unique crossovers started like my Monster Hunter Ninja on my old Auto-nin account started the Monster Hunter/Naruto crossovers on Fanfiction.net. Monster Hunter Ninja is up for rewrite, though it has to way till I finish one of my current three fanfiction. I even do multi-crossovers as my Persona: Pallerel Paradox story which is the Persona game series, Naruto, and the whole Puella Magi Madoka Magic universe. I have three stories up right now and three in reserve with I am planning to write like a book instead of my old style I am using for the current three.

If you are curious of my fanfiction, you can check me out at Mahou Shoujo-nin on Fanfiction.net. My posting schedule is set on monthly schedules on Saturdays with Persona: Parrellel Paradox getting it's next update on June 14, Digimon: Sinned Tamers going up the next Saturday, and Log Horizon: Alien Chronicles on the Saturday after that. I also started a Patreon campaign for my fanfiction. Any donations would be great, but I am not expecting any and mainly using it for the fact it's feed you can choose posts to be open to all or Patrons. This makes it a lot more easier to let everyone know what is going on since Fanfiction.net doesn't have means to communicate past PMs to direct fans. Now, to get back to work, though on some illustrations after my writing binge I been on. This includes finally getting to those covers for my fanfiction I been wanting to do.

Just Sketching And Reasseting

I think someone won this fight, I wonder who?

Last week was pretty stressful for me. I am not going to go into what cause the stress and all that. However, it had made me realized I hardly done much art and writing as I want and need to do. But, upside, it began to push me more into a clearer direction of where I want to be. That and the job market the politicians see is clearly not what Main Street is seeing. However, when I am stressed or nervous, I find just doing something mindless helps me out. Though, my doodle from yesterday is quite nice, especially now that I am getting used to these red correction pencils. I don't know yet if I will go ahead and ink these two or take advantage of the picture now on my computer to do a digital piece with them. This is actually one of my thoughtless sketching and I somehow got to manga-ish elves. Even though a drew them at different times, they oddly fit each other.

But, the biggest thing that happened to me last week(or should I say weekend) is went to a local writing and illustration guild meeting. I was very nervous, not knowing if I would be accepted or not. I was even working on my laptop and a draft of a fan comic I am working on for an experiment, just trying to calm down. However, as the meeting began, I found myself feeling a lot better. It was a very loose meeting, much like I was at the spinning and weaving guild I go to. When they looked at my portfolio(both my graphic design one and the few illustrations I had)... I was instantly relieved with finding they liked my work. I mean, really liked it. As we went on, I found myself talking with the other illustrators and it felt like I was always there to begin with, not just someone who was there for the first time. Next month, I will be joining this guild officially and I am seeing I am more geared towards being possibly an illustrator and writer than graphic designer. Sure, I can make good logos, but outside that, the only things I like to make graphic design wise is vector images and layout books. Though, I never knew at least if I had some talent in illustration since I never got much feedback online.

Real interactions with people is always better than what you get on social media and art websites. When you can see their faces as well as words... You can realize better what they are really saying than just the words they said. I am a very shy person. And it does not help I get nervous very easily when I am alone. That why I been trying to find friends and such, both online and real life, to have support and find out how other artists work. Sure, family can support you, but they only go so far in able to help you. Hence networking with other artists and such are so important... Though, over the last few weeks, I have discovered the term "networking" is not as scary as it seemed when I got out of college. In fact, Will Terrell's latest people sketching video, Episode #15 explains it so well. Networking, though some relationships you build in this network will be professional, most of them are actually friendships and allies with other artists. In fact, I find calling networking more like making friends than making business contacts much easier on me. When you have friends who are more experienced and less experienced than you in what you do, then you find yourself able to learn from those friends and also pass on what you know to them. So, why not find some people, both online and offline, and befriend them. Even if they are not of your job field, you never know what kind of inspiration you will get from even non-artist friends. And, when you have at least a few artist friends on your social media, you find a good bit of humor that will always brighten your day mixed in with some wise advice and great pieces to look at.