One of my brothers had been following project Sintel over at Blender.org, and he noticed that they were using some other software for some of the conceptual art for the project. One of the pieces of software that they were using, other than Gimp, was another open source software called My Paint.
Gimp in many ways is much like Adobe Photoshop, and like it, it is unable to simulate some of the effects that you get with real medium. (There are professional pieces of software that can simulate real artistic medium. Like Corel Painter). That is what My Paint is for.

I have just taken a few moments to play around with it, with my tablet, and have found that the watercolor tools are quite fun. You are able to manipulate the way the brush lays down the color and effect what is already on your canvas. Which, in turn, simulates some of the effects of real art medium. And there are still a ton of other options and little tweaks you can make that I do not understand yet.
I know that some professional digital artists do use programs like Corel Painter to produce some of their artwork, and I know that I will eventually have to dive into that kind of software to broaden my horizons. And it seems that My paint is a program that is very capable in doing that.

If you would like to grab your free copy of this piece of software go ahead and download it at http://mypaint.intilinux.com/ and give it a spin. Also it took a little while for me to get used to the interface. So here is the link for the producers run down of keyboard shortcuts and other things that would help when you start using My Paint.
Have fun!

This actually is not a portrait of anyone on my mission. Just a quick sketch I did when I had the time.
I am starting to get back into the feel of using a drawing tablet for digital art, as I was only able to use traditional medium at the time. (Which, at times, was restricted to a few pens and a highlighter).
This one is not quite finished yet, and I am not too sure if I ever want to finish it.

But a few things that I have learned from doing this. And a few things that I discovered after forgetting them after two years. One of these things, is laying out a color pallet before you get started painting. This has helped me understand the kind of lighting I have and also keeps me from making the painting too busy with a variety of colors. In order to get correct skin tones and tones of other materials, you do need a wide range of color. But, in most cases, most of the work can be don’t with a limited pallet, and then, when finishing up a painting, additional colors can be added.
One other things that I relearned, was the wonderful uses of the airbrush tool. As I was painting this, I relied heavily on the brush tool. Although most of the light/dark transitions can be achieved using this tool, I was strugling with smoothing out some rather sharp transistions. This is where the airbrush comes in. After laying down your colors for your lights and your darks, and after creating the basic transistion from your lights to your darks, the airbrush tool can be used to smooth the transistion in the places needed. Just use the color picker tool to select an already existing color within the transition you wish to smooth out, and begin smoothing the transition. I find using the color picker tool to constantly change to a different tone within the transition, will create a good transition with out reducing the amount of color in your work. If you don’t have a tablet dropping the opacity of the tool to 20% or so should do the trick. If you have a tablet just make sure that the opacity is turned on for the pressure sensitivity, and see those hard transitions go smooth.

That went quick…
2 years flew by and I have finished my mission in the Taiwan Taipei mission. It was really good. It was really great to have the opportunity to learn Mandarin, and to help people come to Christ and change their lives.
I rolled in here about Nov 24th 1:00am. My plane was delayed for 6 hours and we had to head back to Vegas because of the big storm that his Salt Lake at the time. But it was really good to go down the escalator, in the airport, and see my family again.
The adjustment has been interesting. It is kinda weird being surrounded by white people all of the time and I am still trying to speak English 100% of the time. These adjustments will come in time.
Today I was able to see alot of old friends and say hi. I hope to catch up on some movies and get some rest to get my leg recovered.
Looking forward to it.

whooo… Been a while. Well work among other things have been happening lately. I’ll start with the most important as of now. I am going on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!!!!! I got my call about 2 weeks ago (I think) and I am going to Taipei Taiwan! Mandarin speaking. I will heading for the MTC on December 10th for about 3 months then they will ship me out to the island of Taiwan. 🙂

Other than that just working on things to keep me spiritually prepared. But lately I have been having the urge to draw more often then usual. Been doing alot more sketching and more digital stuff. Check out my gallery http://lachoneus.deviantart.com/gallery/ when you get the time.

But this has come with its own problems. I hate just sketching random things. I do it, but it always makes me feel empty. I know that the practice is good but it is difficult for me to do. And lately I have been feeling like I don’t have the creative dive that many artists, that I have seen, have. It is a little discouraging but I try to not let it get me down.

That seems to be the hardest thing for me. Coming up with original ideas that really make people think and feel. But this might be something that many young and inspiring artists face at some point or many times. I just have to keep my chin up and keep pushing my skills.

Ehh I don’t really want to talk about work. Basically I am working 7/12’s on night shift. And I have found out that I don’t mind that graveyard shift. Plus I get to sit in an elevator and read most the time. I have read two Orsen Scott Card books, Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide. I am also almost done with Frank Herberts Dune. Another amazing writer and a good story.

The nights have been killing my social life. Which is one regret, but I need the money for the mission. I try to see my friends whenever I can. bI will have more time after the shut down is finished in two weeks. I am not planning on working after that. Not until my mission.

That is what is happening as of late. I’m feeling ok. And I look forward to serving the people that I fell in love with many years ago. I see some of the purpose of why the Lord is sending me there, and I hope that through my patience and humility he will reveal many other things that I am required to do during my time in Taiwan. I feel it like no other thing, that this is the right thing to do right now.

I know there will be no regret in going there.

Back from college. Good experience but I am looking forward to a break. Got some of my generals out of the way but I got quite a few digital media classes in the mix. UVSC requires these essential classes that, for a person who doesn’t know what they want to do, is perfect. For me though, it felt like a huge waste of time. There were a few things that I learned but a lot of it was just a rehash of what I have been doing for a while. Yeah it was really daunting but it was required and I did well in those classes.

Moving was interesting. Good experience and in the long run it will help with a mission, I hope. Being back home is nice. Different food is a huge and wonderful change. Plus being back home where I can see family more often is nice as well.

I’ve started on my mission papers. Hopefully I will be able to finish them in the next few weeks. Depends on when I can get my physical done… And it looks like it is going to be a while. Other than that I should be able to get through things fairly quickly. And I am really looking forward to the work that lies in the the next few years. It will be a break from the grades.

Of course not everything has been good. I just lost a good friend. Whats worst is that I am not quite sure how. It had been a while since we had talked. I sent a message and I got a message back saying that we are strangers now and that I should forget everything that has happened. Either this person is serious or is mad. And trying to not escalate bad feelings, if they are there, I said goodbye. Its sad how easily people can give up good relationships.

Anyways looking forward to the coming months. Going to be working at a refinery. Good old manual labor. Get me into shape and its decent money. Also I am planning on helping out my bro Jake with his “Glimpse of Over World” project. They want me to do some of the 3D backdrops for some shots. We’ll see how it goes. I don’t have too much experience in this but I think I will be able to pick a work flow quickly, and get some work done. Visual effects of that magnitude take up a huge amount of time. So we’ll see how much works gets done.

How bout games? This is kinda old news now but I still think it is cool. Team Ico has posted an interesting image which might be about their next game. If you haven’t had the chance to play any of their games I suggest you go out get a playstation 2 and get the games and play them. The two games are first Ico and second Shadow of the Colossus. Just the shear artistic detail and beauty is enough to play it. Ico is a little puzzle adventure game. But the visuals and the kinda weird story just draws a gamer in. If you can find a copy its about a six hour game (on average). But well worth the time. The second game doesn’t have any real solid connection to the first game except for its very aesthetic visual beauty. The game play is like Zelda on steroids. (I will explain it the best I can. It’s very hard to do it justice with just words.) Take the boss battles in Zelda 64, taking out all the puzzles and dorky little enemies, and give yourself the ability to crawl on these huge bosses. It is a game that I have no regrets playing a couple times through.

Another thing that I have been playing is Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. It was ok. After playing the original game so many times it feels like step down on every prequel and sequel that they have made under the FF7 title. And being so fond of the original story, it almost hurts knowing that some of the original events were changed from the original story. (The part where Sephiroth goes crazy. Of course someone could argue that what happened in Crisis Core is what really happened because it is seen the Zack’s eyes. And that Clouds idea of those events where changed because he didn’t actually experience everything that Zack did.) But if that were the case they never explained it. But I have to keep an open mind and realize that the original story’s past was really left open to speculation. But other than story the voice acting could have really used a shot in the arm, and the corny dialog doesn’t help with this either. But all in all it did fill in alot of gaps that were present, and HEY! it’s Final Fantasy VII.

While we are talking about Final Fantasy, I excited about Final Fantasy XIII. Visually it looks amazing, but that is just expected coming from the PS3. But the main character is intriguing. Yes she is female, that is a plus, but the fact that she is somewhat modest is surprising. And cool as well. I am looking forward to this one for its visual quality and its game play. Which looks amazing as well.

Away from the games. Getting ready to finish my first year at UVU. Looking forward to it 🙂 Been kinda slow. All of these Digital Media class are kinda lazy so I get alot of free time to draw. Which is something that I should be doing more of anyways. ITs just cool to sit down and almost everytime I draw I do something better. It seems like these days I am really paying closer attention to my progression. This is huge encouragment. I have also been studying anatomy a little too. This has really helped my figure drawing alot. Something I highly suggest for those who are even doing cartoon charcters. If you study anatomy the quality of your cartoons will greatly increase.

I am also getting ready for a mission something that I am reallly looking forward to. Alot of hard work but it will be worth it. Plus it will be kinda good to finally get away from school for a while. My Bro comes back in June and I am hoping to leave around august. Will see 🙂