Sunday, July 29, 2007

Spoilers to Follow: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Wow, I really haven't done art in a while... bad Ivy!! Bad!! You guys need to complain when I do that. :D

So, this is my own tribute to the Era That Was Harry Potter - for it truly is over now, ladies and gents. T.T The books shall live on forever in our hearts and our bookshelves, but it is over!! It's surprisingly hard to believe.

Enjoy the tribute- I call it half a comic. I liked drawing it!! And I managed to do it in record time. I just wish REAL comics only took an hour to do... I'd do more of them for you guys. :3

Can you believe Nicole hasn't finished it yet? She's had it for, like... three whole days. o.O I can barely fathom. Little Sis #2 is supposed to have it next, but as she is leaving for camp in... -2 and a half hours, she can't complain that much. Hopefully, the SLOW READER in the family will be done by then.

See you good fluties at band camp tomorrow!!

Edit: For anyone who actually notices this here, I colored it. :3

Monday, July 23, 2007

Colorado! The magnificent! And golden!! One thousand years~ of color~

And if you don't get THAT bad spinoff then you need to watch The Road to El Dorado again.

Oh, wow. So, I have three days I feel the need to spume about. Buckle up, kids!

The day before yesterday, we went to the nature and science museum in Denver, which was awesome. We saw Imax shows in the planetarium, and one about the Titanic. I also saw an exhibit about the Titanic- all sorts of authentic artifacts and junk. The one in Branson was better. We all got passports (totally stole that gimic), only, no one died. Everyone they passed out lived. Boring I say!! Boring!! And their gift shop only had one version of the Heart of the Ocean. Go figure.

Also that day, we explored Denver downtown. They had part of sixteenth street permanently closed off to display one of the coolest open air strip malls that I have ever seen. Ever. They had second and third levels to it, too. We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, which is vaguely overrated, but still cool. I got a shirt.

Now, for yesterday. By far the coolest day. We drove through the MOUNTAINS. We got up to 12000 feet!! Got out and walked, saw elk and a marmot and I climbed rocks!!! I really can't explain how awesome the view was from that high up. Really exiliherating. I loved the terrain, the tundra, that high up. Sixty degrees, sparse foliage, and lots of rocks sticking up out of the ground at various hieghts and angles!! Some of them looked like giant mushrooms. Those mountains took an entire day to go through, which was an entire day of sitting in the car, granted. But SO cool.

Today, we also went through the mountains. Except we did it on horseback! Two hours through the mountains. I loved it. The high atmosphere hasn't gotten to me yet- all I am is a little drowsy. The horses were amazing. I had a white and brown apolusa (sp?) named Freckles. Nicole had a mean little pony who walked like he was drunk named Blackie (tried to kick Freckles, and when we were going up and down the rocks? Winced everytime he put his feet down. Ankles bent, and I had to remember that he had three other feet to catch himself). And Erin had a pony named Mexico that needed many potty breaks. Mom and Dad's horses were less interesting- but watching Dad get off his horse was painful and funny at the same time!! He really needs to get his back looked at by a specialist, poor guy. ^.^;; He's out in the pool now.

After that, we found one of the little touristy, mountain towns that all look suspiciously like Eureka Springs and shopped around. You know, looking in all the cutesy little shops, getting christmas presents for relatives, and other junk. There were a couple cute little art galleries too. They were fun!! And then...

There was the bike shop.

Now, I need to explain a few things. First of all, in Colorado? EVERYONE BIKES. EVERYONE. NOT JOKING. You can glance up out the window from any given place, and you will see someone biking. A small child, a woman in a skirt, and a BUNCH of serious bikers in full biker attire with seriously expensive racing bikes. They have their own lane on most of the roads around here. It's really awe inspiring. So, when I say bike shop, I say this shop will put any and all bike shops in and around Joplin to SHAME.

So, we stopped in. They had some seriously competitive prices on some really good bikes, according to Dad. It was fun. So, we browsed around in this shop twelve hours from home...

... and I came out with a new bike.

It wasn't planned!! We're twelve hours from home, have a ton of luggage, and now we also have a SERIOUSLY COOL mountain bike to lug home as well. Talk about bad planning!! But I have been needing a new bike... Sir Boa is getting too small for me. ^.^;;; I have christened my new bike Sebastian. He's a duke.

So, that was the highlight of my day. o.O I was as little overwhelmed, walking around this little, cute, downtown area, crowded with tourists, walking next to my bike. I wasn't as out of place as you might think... others were riding their bikes, too. ^.^;;

I had considered telling you all that I had broken my leg on the horse trail through the mountains, but the bike bought twelve hours from home blew it out of the water. I am feeling sufficiently spoiled. :D

Tomorrow, bright and early, we're heading for home. And we're losing an hour coming back, and then I swear I will be getting the latest HP book or SOMEONE WILL DIE. I've seen it around town at least five times. They were selling it for forty five dollars at Target. Wow!!

Okay, enough spume. Ivy, out!

Friday, July 20, 2007

I'm in Colorado!

So, Dad brought his laptop, and we have free internet access! That means I may post. If I feel like it. You get one now!

Not much to tell. Eeeeewww. Long car ride. Towards the end, we saw mountains. o.o They were cool. Also, we drove by a dog food factory? They make dog food. I COULD SMELL THE DOG FOOD. FOR FIVE MINUTES. I was struggling between being totally disgusted and being amazed. Considering I had been in the car eleven hours at that point, it was more nauseating than cool.

Ahh... There was a place called the Denver Coliseum. Yes. No, I did not spell the name wrong. It bothered me.

I think that's about it...... Yeah, that's about it. The mountains were cool. The dog food was weird. Our hotel room has a really hard couch. And I'm tired, though I have been sleeping all day. Ta!!

((The mountains were cool.))

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Well, I feel... stupid. But that's not new.

Okay, so I figured that I had better stop reading Questionable Content long enough to post this bloggy-blog entry. So, no art. I'm sure you will understand, because I just posted new stuff yesterday!

The point of this? Oh. Right. Well, I figured I might not be able to all persons involved soon enough, so they might actually want to hear from me that I am leaving for Colorado early Friday morning for vacation!! I won't say WHERE in Colorado for the sake of staving off any creepy stalkers. Yes, I know you're there.

I'll be gone for a couple of days, and I know I will be missed absolutely terribly. I may write while I am away. I may draw. I know we're potentially going to an art museum, so if I come back with horrid spoofs on classical art done in my own ever-so-endearing style, well, it was their fault. You all will just have to pay for the consequences, by looking at said art, and squealing in mental and retinal pain. I'm sorry.

This being said, good bye to all my friends I don't get to speak to between now and twenty four hours from now! Because, there is no way in heck am I getting at five am to call you guys on Friday to say good bye!!! Tata, my darlings!!

Oh. And one more thing. YES, I will be in Colorado for the releasing of the last Harry Potter book. PLEASE be ever so kind to me about this. If you know me well at all, I will experience SERIOUS head trauma and possibly go into a coma if you ruin this for me in the smallest way. I know my own pain and suffering will tempt you, but keep in mind what a good friend I am that loans you all money!! T.T Of course, I already have a copy reserved. For the BAM here where I live. Not in Colorado. Hopefully I won't die.

So, good-bye again. Hopefully it won't be for good!! (And by this I mean, I hope I won't die in a car accident, and I hope some random stranger doesn't ruin HP for me. I will be forced to kill and eat them, and I would get in trouble for that! And I just wouldn't be able to survive in prison. I'm a goody two-shoes!!)

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

What a loverly day~

Okay, so, checking in after a couple days! And, better yet, with some art!!

No, not a comic. No, not a little witch. (Will you please stop asking? I'll put a warning in the title if it's a little witch. I promise.)

No, this was just a bit of fun, because I noticed that I barely ever have Lali and Mugen in a scene together. So, they were my guinea pigs as I experimented with clothing styles, shading, and fun stuff like that in general. Started it late last night for lack of anything better to do... and pretty much finished it then, too. Admittedly, I did a lot of the shading AFTER I scanned it onto my computer about thirty minutes ago... but it looks better that way! I let my girliness run wild.

But, anyway, aren't the outfits cute?! ^-^ I bet Lali and Mugen just *love* them.

Oh... and on a side note... today, I did in fact design Ben's character, because I'm just a kind and considerate person like that. No, he won't be entering the comic for a while. (So THERE, Ben-- See? I stick to my plot designs and cannot be bribed!!) I just thought I'd just mention I had him all made up and named- mostly just to drive him nuts, though. He should be happy!! He's the first male character I've ever considered drawing with regularity into my comic.

The poor, poor soul...

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Ouchie...

Okay, so enough happened today for it to warrent an actually bloggy blog entry. Well, nothing big, really. Just enough for me to want to write about. T.T

First of all, I fell off my bike. Again. It HURT. It's weird... usually I fall off once every couple of months, but my knee was just all nice and healed up from the LAST time, and suddenly I'm limping around with gauze on my knee again! Same one too. So, that hurts a lot. I'm surprised my mp3 player has survived all the falls... ((coincidently, it IS looking a little worse-for-the-wear)).

Secondly, Nicole is home again from grandmas! Which is... eh. I suppose I'm happy. Really! I guess. I missed her! Kind of. Either way, she's back, with tons of stuff from Springfield, Il, about President Lincoln. Why, you ask? Because she's already working on her HISTORY DAY project for NEXT year. This girl is psychotic. Grr.

That's all that happened, really... I went to the library, too, but that's less interesting and didn't cause me any serious physical or mental pain. So, that's all!! I need more gauze.

Ivy, out.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Lesson 5, Page 9

I know you are all shocked and amazed, for I have done yet another comic. "So soon?!" you ask, and I say, "Yes! For I am just that awesome!!"

:D All joking aside, you'll notice that Mugen is finally out of the trunk. And, in apology for having poor Mugen locked up in humiliation for... roughly five comics, she magically gets a nifty haircut! The trunk fairies did it. They do hair-cuts a lot. Did you know that? ((Actually, you might have noticed Mugen ACTUALLY got the make-over around the fourth of july... but you probably didn't. :P Let's face it. None of you are that observant!!)) Personally, I think the trunk fairies did a splendid job.

And thus, the comic!! Clickie, for I am a link!!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

It's a bird!! It's a plane!! ... No, it's a bird.

Okay, so checking in after a few days. ^.^;; I like being able to post something new every few days, but I'm afraid today's a BIT of a cop out. A little. Kind of.

NO, it's not another Little Witch. I promised a very long time, didn't I?

Anyway, chances are you've seen the picture before, but I scanned it and uploaded it to Deviant. ((In about that order, too- I barely did anything to clean it up. I like how it looks. :D )) It's one of my favs, thus it gets a post, albeit a short one. So there!!

So, enjoy~~

Sunday, July 8, 2007

My poor back...

Okay, get ready for spume. I have a lot to get out of my system. Most of which you won't care about. But it leads up to something you do care about. So patience!

So, I have been working pretty much nonstop since early this afternoon on a new comic. Yay!! But UGH. I started on a new notebook (which means different dimensions for the paper, but that doesn't really matter), so I decided to try something new. I've always felt that I've done my best art in simple pencil, no color and ink about it. For a lot of my comics, I've felt the pencil version looked good, then went to ink it, only to realize that some of the things I had liked had been lost in the process. T.T So, I decided, why not skip the inking part?
Well, on paper, the comic looks great. Me loves it. It's shaded, and has that lovely sketchy style that I like. So, I scanned it onto my computer... o.O Wow. I would like to stress that, once again, if it looks good on paper, that does NOT mean it looks good on your computer. Black on paper does not mean black on my computer. Fairly clean on paper does NOT mean fairly clean when scanned onto your computer. And, as I am a detail-fanatic, this is often lethal to my free time and my sanity.

What I'm wondering is, should I continue in the future? My original thought had been, "Hey, no inking means saved time!" Heh. No. The time I save NOT inking is used cleaning about fifteen times longer than usual on my computer. I love how it looks on paper. Now that I have it cleaned up, I think it looks pretty good on Deviant, too. But, I also have to keep in mind that half the reason I do this is for OTHER people's enjoyment. This means I need a second opinion. (If I even managed to express a first one in this muddled post... I'm not sure...) Does the comic look better than the ones I have inked? Is it worse? Do you really not give a flying rat's rear end either way? Please, tell me how insane I am. I'd love to know.

For your comicing enjoyment, voila!

Edit: Totally forgot to mention before. Idea for comic totally stolen from Arian. :D Thanks Arian!!

Wings off!

Thursday, July 5, 2007

OF COURSE I'm PATRIOTIC

Yesterday was a holiday, huh? Hmm. You wouldn't be able to tell, the way I act. :P Happy birthday, America!! Ours was a mild fourth in comparison to some, but my grandma made a surprise visit (when she lives six hours away, and tells you she will be visiting that very day- it's exciting. Lemme tell you.)

So, we hung out with gramma and got a late start on the fireworks- we have a LOT left over for tonight. Also, no one got burned, or died. They looked pretty against the lake.

Oh! :3 Best of all, when gramma leaves she's taking Midgit #1 back with her. ^-^ I love my sister. Really. But she will be gone a WHOLE WEEK. This is cool. Even if it means we have to do our own laundry.

Umm, let's see, what else... we got the badminton net out yesterday. THAT was fun. I am fairly decent at that game, as opposed to my usual partner, who is just short of useless. *cough*Midgit #1*coughcough* We also went swimming! And had steak fajitas. My dad makes the BEST steak.

And that's my holiday report! (For now) Ivy, out.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

It's Getting Old, I Know

Okay, I PROMISE this is the last little witches art I will post for a VERY LONG TIME*. Especially with these pictures. If I do post more little witches stuff in the future, it will be with all new art. In the meantime, I have combined those color versions I made into a background of sorts- it actually doesn't look too incredibly horrible, considering how much I had to scale down the originals on my computer (a REALLY surprising amount of scaling down, actually). I will now move onto other things, like my actual comic or the comic for Ben...

So, enjoy, be disgusted with me, ignore, or obsess over it gleefully. Ta!!

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/59060655/

*VERY LONG TIME being a relative term.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Time: Approx. 2 hrs 15 min

Last one colored! I may combine the two colored versions later - and thus killing more blog space - but not for, like, at least a day. I'm arted out for now.

But, I love it!! So, enjoy, mon amies:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/58993323/

Monday, July 2, 2007

She Had Never Been Colored Before.

And now she has!! My last little witch has now been colored. You can stop wondering about her hair color.

C'est fini:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/58926279/

Sunday, July 1, 2007

A Valient Effort, Worth An Honorable Mention

So, unable to leave my little witches alone, I attempted what I usually avoid. I tried coloring it! It took hours of my time... and it turned out less sucky than normal, so I decided to actually post it instead of deleting it with my eyes closed. It certainly isn't up to scratch, in comparison with real ar-teests, but hey. It is a valient effort!!

So, here ye go. Be kind:

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/58834584/