Ohayocon 2013 + Homework Sketch Dump 12

Been slacking a bit this past weekend due to Ohayocon. It was pretty cool. I was not at all able to keep up on writing for Janowrimo which I'm not too surprised as I fell behind awhile ago. I have been able to get some journals/sketch pages in but I'm still behind on those too. Need to catch up on that. Gotta do those daily!

So I got to see some old friends and meet some new ones at Ohayocon! As you know I wasn't as eager to attend this con this year so was debating whether or not to attend next year. I'm probably not going to so I can have a break as I'm either getting old or just not having as much fun to see the worth of the cost going there. The only reason I would go is to see my friends and check out the Artist Alley. I don't really buy from the Dealer's room at all. Still it was fun and interesting, just not worth the merit of going again as I've gone for the last few years and things don't seem to change too much.

Friday was good, met up with some friends and hung out with them. I scouted the AA and the Dealer's room but decided to wait on buying anything. Saturday, was busier, I hung out with more friends and bought some stuff. :D It was tiring as I was walking around all day and hardly sat down. lol I guess I was pretty excited then so I didn't want to stop. I ended up missing a grand prize (the guy after me got it instead) on this spinning raffle thing in the Dealer's room which sucked. lol I was a bit disappointed but it was fun. Got to meet a lot of cool artists this day so it was worth it. I went to an improv panel which was fun and a ghost story panel which was interesting...lol Sunday, I debated on going or not but decided to since I had already paid and thought I'd say bye to my friends since I don't see them often. It was worth it but I actually had to sit down at various points to rest and there wasn't as much to do then. I was pretty tired, I got less sleep than I normally do during the weekend so it was an interesting change. Glad I got Monday off for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. :)



Took my friends to the Airport on Monday instead of sleeping in. haha I didn't mind, all the ladies were super sweet and it was a pleasure. Took them to the local mall and I'm glad they had fun even though I was tired and had 2 cups of coffee in about 4 hours. lol I thought about drinking some more but decided against it, my body was already tensed with sugar and caffeine. lol Though once I dropped them off I crashed at home. Surprisingly I didn't hit the bed right after, instead I got on the computer (I was internet deprived) and caught up on my feeds. haha I'm such a dork. Anyways, I went to bed a bit early but not as early as I thought I would but I guess I really wanted to stay online. haha

Sorry, I know this isn't really a progress post but it is a bit related to my art. Just seeing all the great art and talking to the creators at the con had inspired me to start cracking down on myself again. Making friends with similar interests really helped me feel more creatively ready to work again. I do need people to hold me accountable, I really should get myself to do work but that only takes one so far. lol A push or a nudge every once in awhile does it for me. I just need to get out of my comfort zone. haha

Now the art dump below!

Sketches I had to do for my 3D modeling homework at school. These sketches were all copied from Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life. It's interesting to learn to draw from it. Hopefully it improves my anatomy. XD

Review: Quo Vadis Scholar Basic Calendar

I won a free Basic Scholar Planner from Quovadisblog.com! I was really lucky to win a couple of planners but this one I gave to my Mom. :) In the first picture I was comparing it to my Quo Vadis Space 24 Planner and actually it could fit the cover as a refill if I wanted which is extremely nice but could stand on it's own with a fairly thick cover.

As you can see it is fairly eco-friendly with 88% of it made from recycled materials and made in the USA.

Here is a close up of the nice texture of the cover. I actually like this cover, you could probably paint or draw on it if you wish. That would have been a lot of fun but I figured my mom had better uses for it than me since I planned on using the House of Doolittle Planner. It's because I preferred the hourly format in those planners compared to this layout (more further down).

It has sewn binding, but it needs some encouragement to lie flat. I assume after some use it would lie flat on its own but because it's new it needs some breaking in. Although I do like the cover I am afraid that the cover will get worn down easily as you can see the edge of the spine is already tearing a bit and I haven't really used it. I also get a bit rough with my planners if I'm in a hurry.

The first couple interior pages are shown below. It's the standard information about the planner. Read at your leisure. :)

Interesting hourly page I suppose it's for you to plan for an important week? I think it only had one or so pages of these, I forget how many exactly. I already gave the planner to my mom. haha

A page where you can see everyday of the year at a glance. Useful for important dates, holidays, or big milestones. I admit I hardly use these types of pages. The slots are so small for me to write in it and I don't usually plan that far ahead. lol Someone else might use these so it's still nice to have. Especially the holidays.

Now to the guts of the planner, I used to use this style of planner for school and it was helpful because I listed tasks/homework assignments. They also have the tear off at the corner of the pages but I didn't use that in my Space 24 but those are still nice if you use them.

I also like the little priority boxes under the date so you can prioritize or set a to-do list. Although, I'm not sure I'd be able to fit all I want in it. I do like the large date number but feel like the page real estate could have been better utilized. I suppose I could write the stuff that couldn't fit under the last empty section of the first page. I just think that the layout was a little strange to me but it just might be my preference to the hourly schedule.

To explain, I use the hourly schedule so I can block times based on the day which makes it easier for me to plan. This week-day type of schedule is still useful but I primarily think it works better for those who are task based planners. I could also write in my own time blocks if I wanted but I'm lazy. :P

It has the week number listed in the middle which I think is interesting. I'm not sure how many of you use those but I hardly ever do. lol

Maps! Sorry they are kind of blurry but you get the picture. lol

This page gives you the days in 2012, 2013, AND 2014 which I thought was interesting enough to share.

Ok, so what I didn't love about the cover was the little metallic end of the elastic enclosure. I think it would make using the last few pages of the planner a little annoying to use because of the slight bump. I'm probably being extremely nick picky about that but for the most part the last few pages are just filler pages like the maps so I suppose it wouldn't be as much as a nuisance as I think it would be towards the end.

The little indentation that the metal end of the elastic made on the paper. You can see it right? *squints*

For you fountain pen users, you probably wanted to know how fountain pen friendly is this paper? As always these planners deliver with fountain ink friendly paper. This is me using my Lamy Safari F nib with Noodler's Lexington Gray. :) Just so you know, this paper is like writing on normal textured paper, it's not smooth like the Space 24 or like a Rhodia/Clairefontaine paper.

Close up, no feathering!

This is the back, no bleed! A tiny bit of show through but hardly noticeable at all! I definitely don't mind using the back.

Overall, this is a great planner but not one for me (my heart is set with the Space 24). It's fountain pen friendly and is nice if you're in school and use this type of format but I no longer prefer this layout. The planner cover looks fairly durable with care but could involve some fun customization for you creative types. It's a great size, perfect to fit in a bag or backpack as it doesn't take up your whole desk. It's a nice planner, perfect for you scholarly types. ^_~

Homework Sketch Dump 11 + Janowrimo Progress + Ohayocon 2013

I haven't been very good at deciding what blog posts to write as of lately. I've been meaning to write blog posts ahead of time but I've been working on other things. For instance, I've been able to do some beta book reviews although I was a bit late on the deadlines. Still managed to get that done and a few other library books I've been meaning to read. Still haven't really made a dent in the pile of books I've wanted to read. I will be able to get to more of those eventually. XD

I've also not been able to write for Janowrimo lately but I'm hoping to be able to make that up by up-ing my word count based on the rest of the days I have left. I've also decided to change stories as I haven't been feeling inspired to write the other one without a good solid outline. This story is a bit more lenient and I'll be able to change things without any worries. Progress is slow and I haven't really worked on a good outline for the story but I've already written a bare bones outline so I know more or less how it will end. Let's hope I'll be able to keep up with that word count.

Ohayocon is this weekend which I'm sort of not ready for but will hopefully be fun. :) I'll get to see my friends and I hope that I won't spend too much money. haha I do wonder if I'm starting to get too old for that stuff. I'm deciding whether or not to attend next year but I'll decide after I go this year.



Otherwise, I was able to keep up with my daily journals and sketch pages which I'm super proud of but I do need to keep up with my daily projects. :) Hope you all are having a productive January!

Sketches I had to do for my 3D modeling homework at school. These sketches were all copied from Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life. It's interesting to learn to draw from it. Hopefully it improves my anatomy. XD

Nanowrimo Ends but Janowrimo Begins!

So I was about to erase my dry erase board before I decided to take a picture which is why there is a white space where a line should be between Monday and Tuesday. XD Sorry about that. haha

My first Nanowrimo was a failure for 2012. I was attempting to write my version of Beauty and the Beast called Wildly Charming. I've been procrastinating on this post for far too long. I should have wrote this blog post right after the event. haha It wasn't a complete failure though since I was able to get to 12,477 words. I think I wasn't as ready for it because I didn't have a good outline so I was pulling stuff out of my butt. When I got about several days behind I was torn between continuing or stopping and have a better outline. I settled for stopping. I know, bad. Still I was starting brainstorm and thought about combining some of my stories into one. Then I decided to change the setting and story line which basically makes everything I wrote useless. lol Still it was a good experience. I've decided that I need to have a good solid outline before I'm able to write decently.

Right now I'm sort of attempting the January Nanowrimo which is called on Twitter #Janowrimo and I'm giving it a try but not doing so good at the moment. I really want to get Cryptic Treasures written but I haven't made a good outline for it yet although I have written a screen play which I'm loosely basing the novel on. The novel is going to be more in depth than the screen play. This story I've been plotting for awhile but never got around to actually writing it and it's been sitting for a long time. The characters in this story feel more alive to me than any others but as always the middle is always murky to me. Not going to give up and will try to go write it the best I can for now and edit the crap out of it later. lol

Lessons I've Learned:

• Outlines are good
• Know the characters beforehand
• Have at least one general problem to for the hero/heroine to overcome
• Keep a minimum amount of characters possible that keeps the story going
• Don't get caught up with grammar/spelling
• Have a point in each scene
• Take notes of inspiration when you get it or you'll forget it

Those are the ones I can think of at the moment but I may add some later after I finish the January Nanowrimo. Now I probably was not as dedicated as many other Nanowriters so just take my opinions with a grain of salt. I really hope to get a project finished by the end of the year. I should update my New Year Resolution and Goals. haha Next post I suppose. lol Hope we all have a happy and successful 2013!