Buh-dum-cssh!

Jesus Christ, I haven't updated the old review blog since the beginning of October. God knows I have no readers anyhow.
So, as usual, I am on the school computer. Because virtually every good site on the Internet is blocked at school, the only thing I can do is spout off random crap for the hour that I have to stay in this class.
Sigh.
Even Cracked is blocked. Nothing inappropriate comes from that site! Why ever would they block it?
So, what to talk about for 40 minutes...

Lately, I've been drawing portraits. Well, maybe making that plural is a little generous. I've only completed one portrait of Klaus Nomi and have began one of Fred. I'm not one to usually be impressed by portraits (no originality can be put into a portrait, for the most part), but I feel the need to begin "honing my skills". Or whatever.
Doing portraits is one of the best ways to learn the structure and proportions of the face, I think. And God knows I have a long way to go in that territory. Even more to improve on in the human anatomy...
Not to mention, you really learn everything about the face you are drawing. Drawing Klaus was really interesting. He was a very beautiful man, no doubt, and I have a greater appreciation for that now. Same goes for Fred (I should probably stop calling him that).

Not to mention you learn more shading techniques through portraits, but I won't go on and on about that.

But I have to say... that Klaus Nomi portrait... Both very quick (in comparison), and very painstaking. It barely took 8 hours, but it was very difficult to get it nearly perfect.
I would scan the portrait, then overlap it over the original image. Then I would set the transparency on the portrait down so I could compare it to the original. Then I would be able to see if I needed to set his eyes differently, recede his hairline or plump his lips. Once I made the changes, I would rescan it and do the same thing. I did this about six times.

It was to my benefit, though. Dare I say, it is as close to perfect as I am capable of. I am still working on the shading, but otherwise it's near completion.

As for my Freddie Mercury portrait...
I feel like it will take a bit longer.
For one thing, I had the perspective completely off in the original draft of the picture. Well, everything was off in the original.
It's very difficult, though. The more symmetrical a person's features are, the easier it is to do a portrait of them. That's why Marilyn Monroe is good for beginners: her features were pretty much as in line as possible.
However.
A particular Mr. Mercury is very, very unsymmetrical. That is giving me pure hell.

I guess we'll just see how it goes. I should stop being so pessimistic.

What else, what else?
Well, I cannot seem to get the laptop to work. Damn spyware. I had my whole essay on the perception of beauty on there, too. I worked pretty damn hard on that, you know. Other than that, I don't think I have anything particularly interesting that I haven't sent to LACIE via email.
I promised Carol to show the essay to her, too. God, just great.
She also asked to see some of my art some time... Hah! Hah! Ohhhh, nooo. I don't think I have a single piece of work that wouldn't disturb or frighten someone.

Speaking of disturbing and frightening people...
Chris and I showed mom some Klaus Nomi last night.
Chris just makes things so tense, though. I would have much preferred to show mom myself, but he seemed to want to share her reactions with me.
I'm planning on showing mom some more this weekend, however. So it's all alright.
As for her thoughts?
God, I don't know. She thinks he looks like Pee-Wee Herman or something. Which makes me sad. Hopefully I can convince her that Klaus was a perfectly... nonthreatening member of society.
Well, regardless of what she thinks of his appearance, I will show her his voice. Without a doubt.

God... Still have 15 minutes or so left. What to talk about for 15 minutes, what to talk about...

Ah!
Voltaire!
The man's music is finally what I've been looking for: it's interesting, dark, humorous and pretty damn good. Darius Greene is going to grow on me, too. But, I can appreciate any man dressed as a mouse. I told him I would convince my friends not to hate mice just so I could show them his music. Have to see what he says when I get home, since Myspace is blocked.

Maybe I'll try to get Chris's head out of his ass sometime soon, too. God, that man is so picky (I almost laughed when I typed "man") about his music. I may be a bit too lenient, I guess, but my God! Chris needs to loosen up! No wonder he only has 19 bands on his Last.fm!
Haha! Pretention! It's a wonderful thing!

Oh hey, 5 minutes left.
Wow, that either shows that I'm a slow typer or have been thinking about what to say for a long time. Barely two paragraphs in 10 minutes... That's so pitiful.

Okay, okay. Done.

Labels: art, Chris, Klaus Nomi, mom, school