Please allow me to introduce Jessica. Bryan | Thu Sep 4 19:44:37 | [39]
Greetings and salutations, as Mr. King would say,
Do you know me? No, probably not. But hopefully after this blog, you'll know a little bit about me.
My name is Jessica, and I am 15 years old, which means I'm a sophomore in high school! hooray for high school! but not really! Bryan King is my art teacher(even if i don't have his class this year), and he has given me the opportunity to work on a side story
to Neo-Earth, called N.E.N.W.(i think it means Neo-Earth New World, but not too sure on that)
Mr. King is the coolest teacher a student could ask for. I've only taken his class once(darn schedules!), and I loved every minute of it. Ok. maybe not every minute. He played(that should be "plays") pranks on his students a lot. Including me....Luckily I don't fall for most of his pranks anymore...but every once in a while he gets me on one.
Now enough about him! let's talk about meeeeee!!!
I mostly draw fantasy work and I looooove mermaids! they are so great. mermaids mermaids mermaids blah blah blah. yay! fairies and elves are alright too...and..other mystical things. like uh...YOUR MOMMA. AHAHAHAHAHA....I blame Mr. King for that.
Mediums that I normally use or have worked with are acrylic paints, watercolor, prismacolor pencils, normal roseart/crayola colored pencils, charcoal, sidewalk chalk( too bad i don't have a very good driveway to use it!!),sharpies...and that's all I can think of for now. all traditional mediums because I don't got no dang Photoshop! *sob**sob* But that won't stop me from still using it! sometimes I use it in Mr. King's room and in my Digital Photography class. so it's all good.
I love the old Disney movies,(Little Mermaid all the way!!) but if you make fun of it, I probably won't cry myself to sleep. since Mr. King likes to pick on Disney, I've grown a slight immunity..
As for music...Disney soundtracks! (the good old ones from like the 90s or older!) or any old music pretty much....I can never keep the decades straight, but I listen to a lot of 80s! hooray for the 80s! Thriller, Mr. King! Thriller! hahahhahaa....ah....yeah.
Yes I like anime/manga, japanese junk, but i'm trying not to go crazy with that
I also love to play Dance Dance Revolution!!! hooray!! I own Extreme 2, SuperNOVA , SuperNOVA 2, and a lame playstation Disney DDR game. I'm in the diffucult/expert area as far as difficulty level
Ok, going to wrap it up here.
If you'd like to see some of my work (which is tons times better than the N.E.N.W. comic right now), please, please, PLEASE visit my DeviantART, which can be found here :
http://shiezka.deviantart.com/
Later alligators!
Riddle me this Batman!!! Bryan | Tue Sep 2 16:41:38 | [38]
Greetings and salutations. I have been neglecting my blog lately and to apologies profusely I am going to attempt to make up for it by reviewing the subjects that matter to the internet community.
First up lets speak of the Iphone. Now back in the day I was hired to watch the Mac Lab at the University of South Alabama. Needless to say that I got to know the Macs. The G4 was a nice machine that provided true dual processing and superior graphics. Word on the street was and is that Macs run smoother and don’t brake down as much. Now I’m here to tell you that this is bull. I have friends that work in graphics and have both macs and pc. The pc get used over the macs almost 100% of the time. This summer I was forced to use macs again because of a Masters Class I took. I loved the class but hated the macs. I could go into detail but the truth is I would bore myself. The interface is set up for anal retentive perfectionist that lean a little on the elitist side “Not that I dislike elitist but that’s another blog.” What I do think Mac excels at is being “COOL.” Besides Bill Gates throwing them a bone so that Microsoft didn’t become a monopoly mac has stayed in busyness because of the recent cool factor. Ipods are a mainstream of today’s youth. I know this because I am a high school art teacher. Now we have the Iphone. Way overpriced toy if you ask me but the truth is that he first time I confiscated one “I’m the grim reaper of cell phones,” I actually had the kid show me the features. The truth is for all the Iphone shortcomings in price and true functionality, heaven help me it’s cool. So with ipod and the Iphone grabbing on to our youth I have to say ingrates Mac. The youth of America has weaned you from Microsoft breast. I know that many viewers will take issue with my views on Mac. I know TMZ may even do a huge story covering the mac vs. pc users… ok maybe not. The point is usually I don’t care to hear debates about my views from the general public. The problem is that the internet is a buffer that brings out the worst in people. I would much rather debate my views at a convention where I can meet my debtors. That being said I’ll post any good counterpoints that get emailed to me.
Next we shall talk about webkinz. This is brilliant. Make stuffed animals that you can buy take home adopt then upgrade… I have seen way to many people that I respect log in and play with the pathetic excuses that they are doing for their child, little brother, or niece. Don’t think it’s gone to far the you tube webkinz. This is the devil playing with our need to be part of a community. Disney is doing the same thing with club penguin. It’s like this, the cabbage patch kids where my first experience with the community thing. I saw my friends buying dolls that where for girls. One would assume it was because everyone wanted one but then they would send off this crazy paperwork that let you register your adoption??? I know some people will argue that dolls are not just for girls. I disagree very much. Shame on anyone that confuses there little boy and says it’s ok to play with dolls. I used to use my sisters My Little Ponies to give my G.I. Joes a ride into battle, and that was crossing a line. My original point is that the webkinz is building it’s own little internet community that feeds on itself to grow bigger. The person that markets this properly for adults will make a fortune. It would have to include Anna Nicole Smith. I’ll let your minds wonder.
P.S. Fear club penguin, penguins are the devils animal.
Stay tuned next week for the great argument….. Which is superior Myspace or Facebook. Right now I have to check up on some Hero trivia and watch Transformers again.
Later my friend.
Bryan King
http://www.neo-earth.com
The preceding was a riddle, the first person to figure out its meaning gets free art.
80% More Pirates. Bryan | Sun Aug 3 21:03:45 | [37]
Greetings and salutations my friends. I am happy to announce that The Mask of the Zombie Lord has reached its exciting end and we get to move on to book 4, with 80% more pirates. Now before I send you on a Lost type quest to find out whom the pirates where in the previous books I’ll just let you know that I’m being jovial. The pirates character designs have been very fun to come up with and I have to say that color is starting to come to me more naturally. Be on the lookout for a lot of revelations in this book. Ill let you know that we will wrap up our first major story arch by book 6 and this book is the one that sets things off in a major way. Simon will find himself and other characters will have their inner being illuminated. Woot woot. Ian has been kind enough to clean out the forums so please sign up and post away.
Among other things, art is defined by Webster’s dictionary as a skill acquired by experience, study, or observation. As an art teacher for the past eight years, I have been given the opportunity to help guide young minds in experience, practice, study lectures, and observation by critiques. The first two years of my teaching, I truly felt I was surviving. My third year I started to realize that everything was going to be ok. Finishing up my eighth year I could probably walk my way through a year of teaching, but I still find myself wondering what can I still bring to the table. It would be easy to fall into a rut and loose my passion for teaching. God knows that I need the summers to recharge, but I am known for my positive attitude. I truly believe, that it’s because of all our world has to offer and the joy I find in not only reflecting it in my art, but also seeing my students interpretation. The most wondrous thing I see year to year is the way an artist’s mind works. I have dedicated my life to my craft and in all honesty there has been not a single year go by that a student hasn’t been able to top me in one art form or another. Raw ability or obsessed creators, the students always brings something new to the table. I pride myself on my skills as an illustrator, but know my limitations. Now being hard headed, knowing my limitations and accepting them are two very different things. My dark confession is that I am not a good painter. Now one might say that everyone has their gifts. This has always seemed like a cheep answer. So I have taken classes on painting and workshops, not to mention read tutorial after tutorial trying to overcome my weakness. So far I have meet with limited success but that by no means indicates the fight is over. I can now say that I have had my most substantial painting class ever and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Art has always been all consuming for me. I think about compositions as I lie in bed at night and work out ideas in my truck during the day. When I get free time I draw for fun and I push myself to get work as an artist. That being said when it comes to color I am somewhat reliant on the computer. This affects my work and my teaching. Fortunately I have studied color theory enough to be able to help my students at all levels of ability when it comes to color but there is nothing like being hands on. Now I can do demos in Photoshop that come out looking great, but I lose the tactile feel of the brush. When I render on the computer, it sets up a wall that depersonalizes the art. This has a tendency to alienate you slightly from your art and greatly to your class. With my greater understanding of creating forms and my major step in the right direction as far as process, I feel I will be a much more capable teacher this year when it comes to painting. Our exploration of gradiation color emphasis and texture have opened the proverbial flood gates. I find myself dreaming of thick layers upon layers of hue.
Going from traditional mediums during the day to digital during the night have shown more than anything the personal growth that painting has brought to me. I find myself more comfortable with complex light sources and backlight panels in my comic book art. When we talked about why this might be in class, I came to the conclusion that painting helps me to understand how our world works. What is art if not a reflection of how the artist experiences the world. The hours spent looking at shape and form as they relate to value and hue change carries over into my caricatures and I have no doubt, that my sculptures will have been made the better for my painting studies. The pallet knife was a very interesting experience. The hard edges and unforgiving stroke made me look at painting in a different light. I really enjoyed the tactile qualities of the knife and globed on paint but I feel that I favored the brush.
I feel that I have taken the first steps on the right track and have confidence that I will continue to improve my painting skills. This year I feel that I will be spending more time on my color theory in class and let my students spend some extra time on painting. From now on, I hope to set up a canvas to noodle at when I can sneak in a little time with the brush and maybe the pallet knives, when the composition calls for it. The painting class has rekindled my interest in the medium and I look forward to applying what I have learned in the upcoming school year.
Lets talk about DND insider. For $15 a month you can be a DND insider. That’s right ladies and gents sound familiar. Today’s entertainment is all about reoccurring fees. Why make a game that can be bought and played when you can rent and play. Now I know that you can buy the core rulebooks and leave it at that but what about extended content. Will the traditional players buy into this new feature which brings us among other things a virtual tabletop? Lets run threw the insider features.
Product Previews: We have product previews, Now this would be cool if you couldn’t already get updates all over the net for free.
Class Features: I have a feeling that this is why we see no Monk or Druid. Why include it in the books when you can charge for it later. Now this may bring people on board but the problem is that the info will be all over the net possibly before the info is even officially released, “Like the first three books where.”
Strategy and Tactics: I feel sure that a website will arise that surpasses any official effort.
Design and Development: This is the part that is killing Dragon Magazine. I personally like having something to hold in my hands as I read.
DND Humor: Now I do want to read and hear the Penny-Arcade stuff…… Lets see how long it takes to find it online without a subscription…….. Ah ok I am back after 1 Google search.
The final is DND Product Enhancement: This is the major hook. Everyone’s upgrading but you. Problem is that Gamers look out for each other and will work around this.
I know reading this it seems like I am against the idea of DND Insider. I understand wanting to make money off your toils and feel they have every right to do so. The problem lies in that it need to work large scale or it will just be dropped like a bad idea. I am interested in everyone’s opinions, please feel free to write in so I can post more peoples views on Insider.
