It's a Run, You Fools Moment

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The kids are being chased by some kind of ancient sun monster.

For reasons n unknown to me, I painted this picture of Jimmy and Tupa running into a cave for protection from some kind of unpleasant fire monster. Fortunately, this wild idea for a sketch has given me a good idea for the plot. Sometimes sketches are just sketches, but this sketch is actually going to be useful.

Today I deleted all of the custom brushes that have been cluttering up my brain. I seem to think that having 500 brushes will be better than using the brushes that come with Clip Studio Paint. I’m always wrong — the built-in brushes can do pretty much everything I need to do. I should remember that truth…but I probably won’t. I shouldn’t watch so many Youtube videos about digital brushes.

Digital Brush Resources

  1. Sinix, The Best Brush for Digital Painting (Beginners) — my favorite

  2. BoroCG, Make YOU OWN Damn Brushes — always entertaining

  3. Marco Bucci, Can you get good brushwork with only the round brush? — a real pro

Al Fresco Art Club, Sunday May 17, 2020: Drawing Taco

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al_fresco_may_17_2020_taco_coloredpencil_blog.png, Taco the Pug, colored pencil, reference, Koh-I-Noor drawing pencils, Fabriano sketchbook

Today the Al Fresco Art Club honored our beloved Taco. We all drew his portrait. I decided to try drawing his awesomeness with colored pencils. My reference photo was taken Jan 10, 2020. There’s a mistake in the drawing: it says 11/20/2020. I ran out of time on this one — I’ll work on it again next week.

For the rest of the evening the Al Fresco Art Club will be enjoyingThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. This was Taco’s favorite movie, and it’s mine, too. We liked to sit on the Kivic (our Ikea sofa-like piece of furniture) and eat snacks. He was always as hungry as a Hobbit. It’s going to be fun to see this movie again, and sad not to have him beside me.

Chore Day, March 28 -- Shopping Laundry, and Whacking Weeds

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Somewhere hidden in those squiggles there must be a perfect hand.

After putting off yard chores for a month of rainy weekends, I got out of the house and whacked the weeds. With the conifers carpeting the yard with their herbicidal needles, nothing grows here…except the weeds. When it rains, they make the most of their glimpse of sunshine and grow like crazy. That’s when I start whacking. I love whacking.

After the whacking I did the laundry. It’s relaxing. That’s when I just sit in the basement with the piles of clothes, blankets, towels, and fleece jackets and relax. Between loads I do the things I don’t do during the week — I catch up on videos about making digital paint brushes (my latest obsession), vegan cooking, building PCs, and traveling to Japan..

After all that excitement, I’m ready to watch The Two Towers, part two of The Lord of the Rings. I have the extended edition of Lord of the Rings, which I’ve watched at least 20 times over the last 10 years. When times are tough, and big changes are happening, The Lord of the Rings helps me to put things in perspective.