project 366 - another dose of highlights

I finally got caught up on my 366 project again. I'd been taking photos, and even processing most of them, but without actually putting them on my flickr, it didn't feel like I'd been keeping up on my goal. I even felt like calling it quits again. But now that I have them all up, I feel better about this project. So here are my favorites since the last update (going to be a long post, since it's been a while):

leave a message after the (text) tone

Okay, that title really makes no sense. But basically, this blog is to highlight the latest project I did for my design class, where we used text as value (tone). Here's a link to the picture, which you can click on to make it huge: http://armyofgnomes.deviantart.com/art/text-tones-self-portrait-290078115

There are five values (six, if you count the background). This is where you're supposed to guess what they all are.

Tone 1: paper white
Tone 2: katakana
Tone 3: script
Tone 4: kanji
Tone 5: black

Extra tone: background kanji

so that's why I have a tablet!

I got a little Wacom Bamboo tablet for . . . I think it was my birthday last year. Or maybe the year before. My not remembering the exact date may show exactly how much I haven't used it. I mean, I asked for it, I wanted it, I was excited for it. I'd seen people do digital drawings in tutorial videos and had been blown away by all the options. The possibilities of layers, for one, made me want to dance around in glee, clutching the tablet to my bosom. Ahem. Anyway.

So I plugged it in, loaded the drivers, had fun writing "omg I am writing with a tablet" a few dozen times before dragging out whatever photoediting software I was using at the time (might have been Paintshop Pro, maybe Paint.net). I scribbled excitedly. And it looked like . . . a scribble. A scribble where all the lines were a uniform blackness, a uniform unattractive fatness. I blinked, and tried again. Same thing. Not exactly the sexy depictions of line quality I'd seen in tutorial videos.

another check on the bucket list

Quite a bit has happened since that last very boring post. One thing: I've decided that blogging just to blog, especially when my blog has "rarely updated" in the title, is silly. If I can't take the time to make what I'm saying make sense, or at least make it amusing, why post at all?

My attempt at humor (click to make it bigger).

Anyway, I can't believe I haven't posted about this yet, but here it is: This July, I went to a writers' retreat for my writing group. I had a goal in mind, but I had no idea if I would be able to reach it. "Shoot for the stars and you at least won't shoot yourself in the foot" was firmly in my mind.

Creative Cycles

I think I've mentioned before that I'm too dang creative in too many directions. I've decided that the way my brain has decided to deal with this is making my creativity come in cycles. Back in January it was poetry: I wrote over 40 poems. I also took over 128 pictures, but that was because of my blog. This month I've only written about five poems, but I've crocheted a blanket, a bag, two stuffed animals, and most of a shirt. I think December was a drawing month, but I want another one of those to come around so I can work on my webcomic. I haven't had a writing month since November and NaNoWriMo :( sorry to all my fanfic followers. Bleh, so anyway, I hadn't posted to this blog for a while, so I thought I'd put something up here. I really wish these cycles could be daily or something, so I could get more variety. :P